Runner
by ForevermoreAlizabeth
Summary: When running away is all you know, the danger isn't in what's chasing you. It's stopping for it. But what if someone shows up and changes all of that? What if they change you? What if they make you stop running...and start standing.
1. Chapter 1

_-This will be my second Osmosis Jones fanfiction series, and I hope you all enjoy it immensly. This one is particularly close to me, and I'd highly appreciate feedback and any requests, other than that I will explain more about 'what' the main character is next chapter. As a warning to the younger and more sensitive audiences of this fanfiction, there will be stronger language and no sexual scenes, but more intense intimate scenes. I will keep it at a high T rating but if I feel it needs to go higher it will, also at the comfort level of all of you. I love you all, and I hope you enjoy!-_

_Iris's p.o.v***_

_ "There's something I never want you to do from this day forth sweetie, okay?"_

_"What is it?"_

_"Stop."_

I opened my eyes up to the city before me, pulling myself back to the slowly dimming light and deep breaths that blew my stark-white hair from my eyes, the long strands looking like spiderweb threads in the silver light. I leaned forward, the light catching pure-white skin that did everything but contrast with the ripped, torn fabric of the white jeans that did nothing to block out the chilling yawns that suddenly assaulted the body, goosebumbs rising up my bare arms. But I barely noticed it, having been in much colder bodies before for a longer period of time, though not by much.

Five hours. I'd been here for five hours, which meant I only had nineteen more hours left before I ran again, before I could get out and move one, not knowing if I were any farther or closer to what I was running from. But I was moving, and that's what counted. That's all I could do to stay alive, like a shark had to swim forever to just breathe, but a shark was a poor comparison to me.

Because a shark used its power to fight for itself. A shark didn't have to worry about any preditors, let alone just one. As I thought about this, like I usually did when I had nothing else to pass the time with, I stroked a thumb absentmindedly across the only thing on my body that wasn't white. The black leather glove had a crack along the palm, a thin strip of fabric peeking through it. They were thin gloves anyway, but they worked as well as anything.

They seperated my skin from the innocent, harmless ones around me, and even the less-than-harmless ones. And I didn't miss the significance, that if I never had these gloves then I might not be in the prediciment that I was in now, but that was silly. This was completely my own fault, or more likely my ridgid moral compass that kept these gloves on at all times, kept my leathal hands from any harm, accidental or purposeful.

I realized what I was doing and stopped, combing my hair back and keeping the long strands from my eyes as I finally stood, looking out on the city again and surveying what I could of it with my eyes. It was an innocent thing to do, to look at a city. People normally did it for the euphoric, hypnotizing lightshow that lit the normally-plain buildings into some sort of magical picture. I did it for a more sinister, more tragic reason.

Because every inch of city I laid eyes on, that nagging thought came back to the surface of my mind, breaking out from the dark recesses in which I liked to try and keep it. Every building, alley, gutter, trashcan, bus, car, apartement, all of it was dangerous. Because every inch of it could be an inch where he was. That slim-to-absolute-none chance that I'd fallen right into his hand, like he said I would all those years ago. He could be here, there was always that possibility. He could be right beneath me, he could be breathing down the back of my neck.

He could be chasing me. Or waiting for me to run accidentally to him. And these thoughts, and the images and memories they brought back to mind, were exactly what motivated me to leave within 24 hours. No matter if he were here or not, he couldn't get me in just one day. Even if I slept here, which was sounding more and more promising, he couldn't catch me. Just so long as I kept running, nothing could catch me. And I'd keep telling myself that.

"Are you sure about this, Jones? I wouldn't think that Thrax would place a hideout in such a high-traffic neighborhood. Maybe something quieter, I hear the stomach has been rather deserted as of late, ever since Hector's mother put him on that junk-free diet." I peered curiously over the edge of the roof I was on, crouching a bit on the incline.

Below me, from where the deep and proper voice had come from, I saw a white-blood cell and what looked like a pill agent, both young and standing nonchalantly in front of the kiosk below me. Something about the white-blood cell instantly drew my attention, though I didn't know why. Just something about how he looked, the smooth and cocky way he smiled and dressed, in a white t-shirt and brown-and-black jacket with brown, baggy pants, something in the way he acted...

Something about him rang a bell in the back of my head, but I couldn't place exactly what. Like when you know the answer to something, but can't quite get it out.

"C'mon now, Drips! When am I ever wrong, huh?"He asked in a cocky tone, popping the collar of his jacket as the pill, large and red-and-yellow with a pill head and a red gun on one arm, rolled his eyes.

"Everytime you speak, Jones. What I want to know is, if we do somehow catch him, how do you expect to persuade him into our endeavours, hm?"Drips, I suppose the pill's name was, asked.

"With a little Osmosis charm, and some muscle from my big-bad pill partner."Jones explained, elbowing the pill lightly and playfully in a way that I seemed to remember from somewhere. I tilted my head to the side, a frown on my face as I watched these two talk a bit longer, laughing and joking and discussing something about this 'Thrax' man, who was of no conciquence to me. Eventually, the two left, the kiosk empty and shutting the light off, dousing the street in a darkness as the lights gradualy dimmed to a faint glow.

I sighed and decided to head to the kidneys to hole up for the night in the only place in every body that was exactly the same. The kidneys housed some pretty run-down, abandoned apartements that even the baddest of the bad wouldn't hold secret meetings in. Which meant it was perfect for me.

I jumped down, a good 10 foot drop that felt like landing on a matress as my feet made barely any sound on the ground. The street was empty, all the shops closed for the night, a nostalgic feeling for some. For me, it used to be lonely. I'd see all those people with their friends, with their laughter and their jokes, like the partners I'd just seen, and I'd also see the empty streets left after they went home. Places that used to be so alive now desolate and empty.

Except for me. There was always me. Moving, running, never stopping. And I never did stop, not for twelve long years. I shook off the feeling a few years back, having become so accustomed to so many things that would undo a normal person that barely anything affected me anymore. I blew out a breath and walked, planning on heading down a few streets before cutting across the small intestine. I walked past the alley I'd just been running down, thinking about that white-blood cell, about why I'd seemed to recall something when I saw him.

When a hand clamped down on my shoulder.

_Thrax's p.o.v****_

Sometimes it felt like all I hired were idiots.

"Boss! What if we, ya know, put your name on stuff? Then they'd know it's you!"Sniff exclaimed, his stick-like body wobbling under the weight of his movements. I rested my face in my palm and wondered if I, the sickest virus this side of the medical scale, seriously only had these two to help with a situation that left a nasty taste in my mouth.

"Psh, idiot! Boss'd never do something like that!"Sneeze countered in a stuffed-up, drippy kind of voice that matched the sickly-yellow look about the chubby germ, and a loud and irritated 'ow!' told me the two were in another one of their damn slap-fights. It was times like this that I cursed the ground Jones walked on, knowning I shoulda lit his ass up the second I had the chance, way back in Frank. 'Cuz a that damn cop, my rep went down the god damned drain.

These two runny-nosed germs were the only little shits I could use until I gained back up a reputation that I deserved. I glowered, leaning my hands against the wall as I took in a few deep breaths, only fanning the flames as I thought about my record, my sexy record of almost, _almost _48 damn hours. 48 hours! Nothin' ever got as close as I had, not the plague, not damn Ebola, nothin' baby. Just me.

And it was all destroyed 'cuz of one Immunity cell.

"Uh...Boss?"

And now, on top of all of that, everythin' I was doin' for the past few months was being taken from me! I cut down an entire village in two months, one of the worst epidemics in medical history! But who got the credit for it? Who left behind their traces and covered up mine, all for the sake of 'buisiness'? Pox. That fucker, Pox was the worst of the worst. He didn't do a damn thing himself, couldn't even lay a finger on anyone over twelve nowdays.

So what did he do? Made others do his dirty work, and then left his traces all around. Normally scum like that was taken down, but Pox was a whole new matter. He was smart, I'd give the asshole that. He surrounded himself with the toughest germs doctors had ever seen, big-shots who only worked for Pox because vaccines had been created for them and injected into every newborn in the entire damn first world, and most in third.

No one could touch him, and he always got what he wanted. Hell, I hated him more than Jones, and you have to be one twisted fuck to take over Jones's place on my list.

"Boss? Um...Boss-"

"WHAT?!"I shouted, nerves frayed as I spun around and glared daggers at the two germs I was stuck with, both jumping and cowering like kicked puppies. With trembling lips and wide, watery eyes, Sniff stuttered out,

"Th-there's a commotion outside, y-you want us to take a look?" I paused, and listened. Outside of the hole-in-the-wall that I was using as a base, a bit out of the alley we were in, I heard what sounded like deeper, grittier voices, and then shuffling. I paused a second, and then cracked my neck, shoving the hand that didn't have the long, now-glowing claw into the pocket of my black jacket and walked between the two, both jumping quickly out of the way.

"Nah, I need to let off some...steam."I mused, claw twitching and white-hot as I kicked open the door, the sound drowned out by a sudden scream of pain. I looked down the alley, seeing the back of a massive, overly-muscled germ, which quickly dissapeared around the corner. There was another shout of pain, and suddenly I was interested to see what exactly was taking on these big germs and, by the man's shouts, probably losing.

I walked smoothly down the alley, dragging the claw lightly across the wall and leaving nothing more than a glowing orange streak, making it to the alley opening and looking out, still cloaked in the shadows. At first, I couldn't see anything at all, and was debating jumping into this thing to ease my growing frustration, if just for a second. But then the massive germ was thrown to the side like a rag-doll by a hard kick, and suddenly the entire scene was laid out in front of me...

I cocked an eyebrow and leaned against the wall next to me. This might be a bit more interesting than I first thought...

_Iris's p.o.v****_

Every nerve in my body was on high-alert, my entire being tight and instantly defensive, ready to fight before I was even thrown around and grasped even tighter on both arms by a massive, purple germ with one eye and a miniscule mouth that was in a mini, yet no less creepy, smile. Beside him were equally massive germs, five in total, each uglier and stronger-looking than the last.

"Well hey there,"The one cooed sloppily as he held me, "Pretty little girls like you oughta not be out so late, all alone. How 'bout we take this one back to her home, huh boys? I mean, it's just our duty as citizens of Hector." The ones around him either sneered excitedly or bellowed in laughter, as if it were the funniest thing they'd ever heard.

I felt my stomach coil and anger so tight in my chest that I almost screamed, an instinct that I'd learned over time kicking in as I instantly became defensive and hostile, entire body screaming to get this germ off of me and run, run, and run faster and farther. My heart pounded so hard that it made me dizzy, but no less alert than I was right now, as the germ's tiny grin got wider and he began to pull me towards him.

What happened would have looked like someone skipped a scene in a movie, going from motionless and frozen-stiff to moving fast and angry. I pulled my legs up and smashed my knee-high, pure-white combat boots into the germ's chest so hard that his eyes bulged and it seperated us, throwing me backwards as I stumbled, gaining my footing back seconds before the germ slammed into the wall, slumping to the side from the impact of his skull on the cartilage behind him.

The others were frozen stiff for a moment, and I took it to my advantage. I grabbed the closest one and threw my fist around, sinking it right into his nose and feeling it break under my fist, now in survival mode and attacking anything that came near me. The germ I punched reeled back, but I ducked, my body moving in a chord of its own, having fought and gotten strong all on its own when my mind couldn't take it.

Honestly, if my body hadn't taken over and gotten as strong as it did, I didn't know if I'd still be here. A hand shot towards me out of my perifrial vision, and I ducked, the germs above me punching eachother in the face and knocking each other out, my eyes never taking off the fourth one who charged at me like an angry bull, having caught on a little late to the exact danger they were all in.

I jumped to the side and gripped his elbow with my hand, muscles in my arms so taught that it hurt, yanking him around in a circle and slamming him into the powerlines behind us, whipping a hand across his temple. His eyes rolled back and he muttered something, then slid down onto the ground and fell over, tongue lolling out of his mouth.

I panted, stepping back and looking away from the alley, seeing the fifth germ already hundreds of yards away, stumbling as he sprinted away in his bulky frame. Only after I saw him turn down a street did I finally relax, panting lightly and body shaking from the sudden loss of adrenaline and a minute amount of fear. My heart pounded even louder this time as I let out a breath, closing my eyes for a moment to try and collect myself...

I felt something long and smooth around my neck, and my eyes flew open. A voice in my ear, one that was smooth, rhythmic almost, and deep, mused in an amused tone,

"Ain't you a little fighter, baby?" I gasped and spun around faster than I ever remember doing, slamming a hand into the man's throat and pinning him to the wall behind us. He seemed to be caught off-guard by this, and for a moment...for a moment, everything paused.

I looked at this man, so unlike the germs I'd just fought that I somehow knew he wasn't one of them. Unlike them, he was lean, with broad shoulders and razor-shark cheek bones and chin, a deep red complexion and violet dreadlocks. But what I was really stopped by was his eyes, two yellow, narrowed eyes that looked at me almost...fascinated, confused, as if he were seeing something he hadn't expected.

And to be honest, I felt like I was, too. He just looked...different. He didn't look like the germs I knew, not creepy or sleezy or ugly or horrifying. He looked evil, yes. Sinister, with the two piercing yellow eyes and angry, confused frown on his sharp face. I saw one hand wrapped around my wrist, the hand that had held something around my neck, and it wasn't until now that I realized that, on that hand, was a long violet claw a good four inches longer than the rest of his claw-like nails.

A shiver ran through me, thinking of all the people he's probably killed with that thing, and how close he came to kill me. I hadn't even heard him walk up behind me, and people sneaking up on me happened once in a blue moon. My eyes strayed back to his face, my eyebrows furrowed and eyes glaring into his with a defensiveness and exauhstion. Something about this man was...different.

I couldn't quite place it, but something in my mind wouldn't let it go. It was the same thing that kept me standing here, hand around his throat, and just solitary. I wasn't fighting, I wasn't running, and...I didn't feel like I was in danger. The realization hit me too hard to take, thinking that maybe I was just too exauhsted, too worn out, and wasn't thinking straight. I was always in danger, especially around a germ...no, virus, like this.

Though I didn't know what 'this' was, the strange sense around the man sending uncomftorble, confused chills through me.

Suddenly, breaking me from my trance like pulling someone out of water, Immunity sirens blared and tires screeched towards us. I gasped, and stepped back, looking down as four Immunity cars sped towards us, a few stopping and tires screeching, smoke rising from the burning rubber. Immunity. Virus.

Thankful for the slap back to reality, cursing myself for having stood there that long just thinking about the man who clearly tried to kill me, I took four or five steps backwards and, while the man's eyes were trained on the cars, back still pressed to the wall, I took off. Buildings blurred past me and I rounded the nearest corner, turning so fast that I had to place my hand against the building to my side to prevent from running into it, stopping only when I knew I was out of the Immunity officers' line of view.

I panted, shaking from the events that had just taken place in such a short period of time, and took a small chance to peek around the corner. The man was talking to one of the officers, angrily and threateningly, hooking the claw under of the officer's collar and pulling him closely, giving him an amused smile. I paused, watching how he moved and spoke to Immunity officers without a hint of fear. Most germs or even viruses would have booked it by now...

But he stood brave and confident, eyes narrowed and a sly smirk on his face, as if he weren't afraid of anything that they could do to him. It was almost like...like they couldn't hurt him, even if they tried. And he knew that...

I shook my head, wondering why in Hector I gave a damn about this man, and quickly proceeded down the alley. I ran, jumping onto ladders to get onto roofs when I got far enough away, just taking in the familiar feeling of getting away, of seperating myself from danger, of doing something that I'd done for twelve long years. Twelve years, countless cities, and I reminded myself that this was the reason I was still around. The reason he hadn't caught me yet, and never would.

'Just keep going,'I thought to myself, shaking my head, as I paused for just a second, looking at the city that I'd never see night in again, because I'd be long gone by tomorrow afternoon. Because I had a promise to keep.

_Thrax's p.o.v****_

'The Hector...?' I wondered, looking back as the damn cops swarmed, ten of 'em apparently off donut duty and racing down here, almost half of them staying in the safety of the line of cars. But I didn't pay attention to them, not even when the big Chief man started walking towards me. I just looked back to where the girl had been not three damn seconds ago.

I'd looked away and back, and the kid was gone. I could almost still feel her stronger-than-expected grip around my throat, having watched her take down four roid-filled germ croonies like they were nothing. Her image still floated somewhere in my mind, possibly because I'd never seen someone her size fight like that before, possibly 'cuz I ain't never seen a virus like her before. Pure white. Now, pure ain't a word used to describe a virus, but that's all I could think of as I narrowed my eyes at where she had been.

Long, white hair that fell in locks in her eyes. Pure white skin, tank top, ripped and worn jeans, and boots. Even her eyes were pale, like an unnatural light grey. Hell, the only thing on the girl not white was those black leather gloves...or possibly because there was something different about how defensive she looked. Like everything that got near her was going to hurt her, like she was born to fight.

'Like a puppy kicked on too many times.' I thought, sliding my right hand into my jacket as the Chief took my attention, saying gruffly in his obease tone,

"Thrax, by order of Immunity I need you to come with me." I slowly rolled my head towards him and cocked an eyebrow, looking from him to the nine other 'officers of the law' who tried to put up a brave front. I'd seen men twice their size and skill shirvel at the sight of what I could really do to them, just a twitch and half of them would paint these streets a nice, sexy red.

"Thrax, you listening to me boy?"The Chief demanded, and I stepped quickly towards him, hooking a claw under his collar and pulling him closer. I had to give the old fart credit, he just seemed to get even more pissed. I leaned down closer and asked, amused,

"Chief, baby. Why would I go with you, when all y'all could come with me and have a nice party, hm? So how 'bout it? Pull out those big nasty guns you got and let's see who give orders here."

"You're not under arrest." I cocked an eyebrow, losing my smile as I glared suspiciously at the old man. Normally, if an Immunity tried to pull that with me, they were playing the 'calm the fugitive' card, talking in a measure and coaxing tone. But Chief said it like it made him pissed. Not under arrest? If I wasn't under arrest, I wasn't doin' my job right...

And then I thought about Sneeze and Sniff, and grit my teeth.

"Sorry, don't take visitors."I spat, shoving him away from me and turning. If this wasn't an arrest, I had more important things to do.

"It's about Pox." I stopped, every muscle in my face tensing as I felt a surge of anger rise at just he mention of his name. And I suddenly found myself, against my better judgement, interested.

"..."I paused, not answering but not leaving either, waiting for him to elaborate. And damn that Chief, the knew exactly what the hell he was doin'. No wonder they kept him around, 'cuz he said next in a tone where he knew damn well I was too interested now to turn back. Hector don't get any news from outside bodies, the kid had some damn good hygeine. It took me two damn weeks to get into here during one of his basketball games.

So if these idiots knew about Pox, then he was here.

"Right this way, I'll explain at the station."Chief said confidently, and I grit my teeth even harder. I had to control myself, to not let the claw burn and invoke the younger idiots into shooting at me.

"He here, ain't he?"I asked, turning my head to glare at the Chief. I hated that look on his face where he knew I was gonna follow, so he wasn't even damn scared. Wanted to rip it right off his damn face. As if Immunity hadn't fucked up my plans enough, hadn't done enough to me over the past two damn years, now they were trying to manipulate me some way using the only damn person I hated more than Jones?

"Let's find out."He mused, and I glowered with hatred. If I wanted to, I could turn them all into puddles. And damn, did I want to... But not as much as I wanted to figure out what the hell they wanted me for involving Pox.

"I'll take my own wheels, thanks."I spat, sliding my shades from my jacket pocket and sliding them on as the fat man shrugged and walked to his car, the other officers not able to get in and out faster, wheels screeching before I even had time to turn and slam a fist through the window of a random car, hopping in through the torn membrane and glaring.

The only thing that got whatever the hell was about to happen out of my mind, as I slammed my claw into the dashboard and fixed up that piece of metal real nice into something more my style, was the image of that girl in the back of my mind. I didn't know why I was thinking about her so much, maybe because she was something I didn't see everyday.

But something inside wanted to argue, say that this chick had something to do with something, but I didn't know what that was. She damn well didn't belong here, I knew that much, or I'd have heard about her before. So how did a tiny, pure white, super-strong virus make her way into this body?...And more importantly, why did I give a damn? I brushed it off, nudging her back as just a tempermental virus without much potency, if she was travelling alone.

I shot down the roads, angrily shoving other cars off the road as I did, hands gripping the wheel tighter as I headed towards the Immunity building. Those jackasses...Osmosis had to have something to do with this, it just smelt like him. First, he ruins my rep. And now I gotta go to damn Immunity 'cuz they lured me in with a bait I knew damn well I was taking? Almost made me hate both more.

"This better be worth it, Jones. Or you ain't gonna be chummin' it up in Hector no more, go it cop boy?"I muttered to myself as I shot closer and closer to the building. Whatever it had to do with Pox, I wasn't gonna do shit for these assholes. I'd find out what they know about him and split. They weren't the only ones who could play on someone.

As I continued down, trying to focus on the situation at hand, that girl came back. Almost like she wouldn't leave, and it was starting to grate on my nerves. She wasn't anybody, just a small virus with pigment issues... But something inside me, something I kept silent, knew something else. Something that, looking back on it now, was inevitable, I just didn't know the chain of events that would lead to it. At the time, though, I had bigger issues to tackle. But somewhere inside me, I somehow knew.

I'd see that kid again.


	2. Chapter 2

_-I mentioned in the first chapter that I would explain the significance of the main character in this chapter, but I didn't get as far along as I would have liked and therefore it will be pushed to the next chapter. I hope you are all enjoying it and make sure to let me know if there's anything you'd like to see happen or change, I love you guys!-_

_Thrax's p.o.v****_

The only thing that succeeded in brightening my mood was seeing all those little, desk-ridden secretaries and rookie Immunity officers flinch back at the sight of a man they'd all mock when my back was turned, the man that Osmosis-god-damned-Jones knocked down to square one. 'That's right,'I thought as I walked, half against my will, across the straight hall surrounded by desks and trembling officers of Hector's finest, 'Ain't so tough when your maker's right in front of ya, are ya?'

Part of me was wondering if this was such a good idea, bein' here and walking right up to a damn Immunity Chief's office. Some part of it had to scream 'trap' at some point, but at the same time something in the dark recesses of my mind wouldn't let me pass up that chance that this might actually be legit. If they were tellin' the truth, they knew something about Pox that I might like to know, take out one of the torns in my side. An' if they were lying? I'd gotten out of worse before.

I heard muffled voices beyond the door, listening in before I opened it up out of instinct, knowing how to look for a crooked situation.

"Are you _sure?_ I mean, I know you know this guy, and yes he might be a valuble asset...but Jones, this is El Muerte Rojo we're talkin' about! He ain't exactly on my Christmas card list."A hispanic woman tried to reason, and I'd be lyin' if I said it didn't put a big smile on my face. Smart girl, she just might make it in this big, cold world we've got here. Just as she finished, I silently opened the door, sliding in unseen as the group all faced the Chief behind the desk, the overweight man with his eyes closed and rubbing his temples like his nerves had seen better days.

And there he was. Osmosis Jones, in all his false glory. Got me by a lucky shot, that damn punk. Took advantage of one damn second and sent me almost into an entire beaker full of alcohol, almost ended all his problems. Too damn bad I was still here, glaring at the back of his head as he stood confidently next to the pill and the small, curvey, hispanic woman dressed in a tight pair of orange jeans and jacket.

I smirked a bit, walking up behind her and leaning down into her oblivious little ear, musing calmly,

"Aww now baby, that one hurt." She jumped, her gasp music to my ears as she spun around and almost fell over the desk, palms digging into the edge as the pill and Osmosis both backed up. I reached my claw forward, freezing the woman in place as her big eyes looked at me, and I had to give her some credit. There was a look of defiance in them, if not clouded by fear and anger. I traced it along her collar bone, imagining the look on Jones's face if I lit it right now, just one little pinprick and she'd be pretty all over the floor.

"Now is that any way to ask a favor, hm?"I asked, smiling at her angrier face, the white-blood cell still frozen stiff.

"Yo Thrax, wanna back up before we do a little repeat of your hand in Frank?"Osmosis demanded, and I glared daggers over as the pill pointed that damn gun right at my claw, as if he had the damn right to ice my little baby on cue. The memory of that painful, stinging cold that almost ruined everything brought back a bad taste in my mouth, and as much as I hated Jones right now I'd hate it even more to be defensless in front of him.

So, with a glare to melt ice caps, I lowered my claw, the woman slowly and bitterly moving around the desk and to the side of the Chief, me and Osmosis never un-locking eyes.

"You know, Thrax, when I heard you were chummin' it up back in Hector, didn't expect to see you here without a pair of cuffs on."Jones mused, trying to be a tough guy when I could take him out in a second, claw or no claw. I fixed my shades and mused, tone dripping with venom,

"How 'bout you tell me why, huh?...Wanna lower that thing, big boy?"I asked, looking over at the pill who still had the gun pointed tensly at my face as I got closer to Osmosis. The pill looked a bit reluctant, but the Chief spoke up for the first time,

"Drixenol, lower that gun right now. Thrax is here on Immunity buisiness, and if any one of you touches him you're suspended indefinitly!" I looked over at the big man, surprised that he'd actually talk to his 'prize officers' like that. Maybe I wasn't the only one who didn't like Jones' cocky attitude. Slowly, Drix lowered the gun from my face, me tossing him a satisfied smile as I turned to the Chief, feeling Jones's eyes on me as I tucked my hands into the pockets of my trench coat, claw twitching anxiously.

"So what's the reason for callin' me down here, huh? I don't do reunions, so you best have a damn good excuse for makin' me see his ugly mug."I nodded towards Jones as I spoke, feeling his tense glare on me and giving less than a shit about it. The Chief continued with his serious cowl, reaching into his desk and pulling out a manilla folder, slamming it down onto the desk and flipping it open. Inside were pictures taken from what I assumed were other blood cells and snitch-germs who'd escaped deceased cites, pale and grey cadavers that, at first, looked like they died from some unnoticable disease...

And then I looked closer, and I couldn't help the smile that curled onto my face. Almost hidden, just in the curve of the upper lip, was one red, crooked line, looking like they got struck with a red lightning bolt with jagged, branching edges. These were bodies I'd done in, poor fools who didn't know the right time to use hygene and cost themselves decades, decades that I took from them.

"Look familiar?"The Chief asked, and I reached my claw up, smoothing back my dreads as I mused,

"Yeah, real work of art huh?" I heard Osmosis growl, saw the pill hold him back out of the corner of my eye.

"Yeah, works of art. But know you, Thrax, what's the point of being an artist if no one knows it was you?" Chief's words snapped me back, and almost immediatly I felt a hot anger boil up inside of me, jaw tight as a bitter wound was re-opened in my pride, eyes smoldering behind the shades as they once again trailed down to the pictures. Beneath each victim was the cause of disease.

Small Pox.

Small-fucking-Pox.

"Those damn morons don't know what the hell they're doin'."I growled, and suddenly, in a fit of pure anger that came on as suddenly as a storm, slammed my left hand down on the desk, making everyone in that room jump. "Small Pox?! You think Small Pox can take down and entire VILLAGE?! You think Small Pox can lift a damn finger without the help from his overpaid, roided-up body guards doing all the damn work for him?! And these 'professionals' think they can diagnose people, huh? No wonder I got away with this all these damn years!"

"Thrax!"Chief shouted, standing suddenly, "Calm down! This is exactly why we wanted you here. You think we'd ever let you anywhere near Immunity as a free criminal if this was a situation we could handle without the expertise of another major virus?" I paused a moment, still hot from my fit but now intent on finally getting the low-down on why the Hector I was in this joint.

Chief seemed to see my pause, and he took it, voice a bit calmer as he explained, gathering up the pictures,

"Pox is known for letting his henchmen do his dirty work, but he's the first virus to ever do this and be successful. No doubt you know it's because he uses some of the strongest, toughest germs ever seen by man and cell, with his expertise and mind controlling the whole operation. He's virtually invincible..._virtually_ . Jones came up with an idea that might just make this whole endeavor possible, to be the first body to finally take down Small Pox."

"What's this gotta do with me, huh?"I asked, getting more and more suspicious by the second. If it was something Jones came up with...

"Small Pox has always been attacked by isolated Immunity fources or solo-viruses. He's never been under a joint attack that, when thought out, he doesn't have near enough protection to fight off. Say he's attacked by Immunity in a large-scale rejection, he'll send out his strongest men to get rid of them. But what if he was also attacked from the inside, from a virus with enough skill to get close to him while a police raid was going down?

"The germs are paid henchmen without any potency. If their boss goes down, they cave faster than a cavity. We've got the Immunity fources...now we just need the skilled virus."

Everyone paused, all eyes on me with suspicion and a tense hope, an actual expectation as I processed exactly what Chief was asking of me. And once I realized what it was, once my mind mulled it all over, I couldn't help it. I let out the strongest burst of laughter I had, resting my hand on the edge of the giant desk that had to support the Chief's massive weight, wrapping the other arm around my stomach as I laughed in their foolish faces.

Help them? They were askin' me to help them! That might be the biggest, richest joke I'd ever heard in my entire damn life.

"What's so funny, huh?"The woman asked, braver now with her anger. I managed to stand up, taking in a deep breath and slicking back my dread, pointing to Osmosis with the claw and saying in a voice that couldn't have been more amused, the entire situation brightening my whole damn day,

"Ain't that rich, Jones? The same Immunity cop that once trashed my rep is askin' me for help cuz he can't handle a virus who can't harm a Horse Fly? Jones, you just made my day."I mused, seeing his eyes narrow and darken in anger. But I couldn't care less, this was too damn rich, and I hated to end it, but I had other things to take care of than play games with a bunch of incompetent officers.

I turned, walking towards the door as Jones snapped,

"Maybe it wasn't such a good idea. Afterall, you let him walk all over you, didn't you?" I paused, claw lighting instantly as I spun and held it dangerously close to his chin, Jones proving how either brave or idiotic he was by not even flinching, just glaring harder and angrier at me as the others tensed, ready to jump to action. I fixed the cop that ruined my life with a stare, thinking over everything he'd done to me and what I could do to him so easily...

"Count your lucky stars, Jones, that you caught me on a good day. Good luck."I spat sarcastically, and whipped back around, un-lighthing the claw and tearing through the membrane of the door, walking out to a stunned and fearful silence from not just that room, but the entire main area as well. I didn't dare think of anything until I was back in the ride I'd taken, sliding into the seat and taking off without a second thought.

Yeah, I wanted to take down Pox. But side and take orders from Jones? I'd rather Pox slit my throat with my own claw than deal a team with any of those morons... I gripped the wheel tighter and angrier, thinkin' about how I could either go back to the hideout with Sneeze and Sniff, or to my pad where I'd take one hell of a break from all this bullshit.

The whole damn day had been crap...

And then her face popped up again. The eternally pale, pure-white virus with the light grey eyes. There was just something about that face I couldn't shake, something strangely captivating about it and making it harder and harder to ignore everytime it popped up. Something in those eyes, that kicked puppy that decided to fight back, but there was something more in them. There was more to that girl than what a person could see on the surface, but wasn't that the case with everyone?

So why was this one so much more interesting? Why was I mulling over this one? The answer at the time wasn't clear, and I tried to shake myself of it, of thinking about a person for more than a few seconds for the first time since I could remember. Later, maybe I'd look back and see all the signs, but as the moment so much was goin' on that I didn't want to deal with shit. I wanted my pad, a bed, and nothin' else for the next 24 hours...

_Third Person_'s_p.o.v****_

A jaundice-yellow finger trailed across pale lips, a smile playing on the face of a man who was, at the moment, manipulating the lives of two viruses he was well-accquainted with, one much more than the other. A malichious, excited glint played over a pure-white eye, black barely rimming the iris and allowing for a slitted pupil, only adding to the snake-like effect of the man's lean, sharp face. Oily black hair fell over shoulders and passed shadows over his features, but no darkness was emitted other than that of the corners of the lavish hideout he'd allowed himself.

A decorated chandelier above the man's head shone dimly, taking nothing out of the liquid-blackness of the man's clothing, wearing a black tank-top and jeans with army boots, baring a white circle on his right arm that had been embedded upon every victim he'd agreeably stolen from Thrax. This man was many things, a thief, a braggart, a genius. But he was by no means a liar.

He'd admit to the first person that he'd formed a way to get into medical books as the first virus with a vaccine who was still, mysteriously, killing people. And that way was merely a buisiness strategy, and Thrax got caught up in it. He was meant to be nothing more than a liability, a possible threat that could be taken down easily with three or four of his hired enfourcements. But this...well, he'd have to wonder what exactly Thrax was doing voluntarily following Immunity back to their station.

Unfortunatly, the muscled germ standing, slightly frazzled, in front of him could offer no information as to Thrax's sudden interest in Immunity. So, much to the chagrin and discontent of the infamous Small Pox, his little play toy would have to be watched and yet ignored for the time being. Besides, there was a much more interesting pawn to capture.

A pawn that, Pox had to admit, he was starting to think he'd never run into ever again. Or, more appropriatly, a pawn that wouldn't run into _him._ It brought a whole new smile to his face, this germ's recount of what had happened just this morning, earning more than a few concerned looks from the men around him. Yes, they felt Pox was a bit off his rocker despite his young age, and yes Pox was well aware of this.

But at the moment he couldn't care less. Because his little beauty was back, his ace that got misplaced after a bad card trick. He could almost hear the screams of that whole family, filling him with a euphoric, light-headed happiness as he recalled the utter destruction of the family who refused to donate their unique talents to his cause. The bravery the mother showed by dying first. The love the brother showed by blocking the door to the father and the gem. The incredible preparedness of the father, who somehow allowed that little girl to escape my grasp.

Yes, they were all dead in the end, the viruses who could insinerate a white-blood cell on contact, who all decided to play the heroes and swear off their instinct nature. Who all decided to refuse him. And now they were all gone...but that didn't matter much. Because they weren't the ones he really wanted, the ones he wanted more than anything. No, that little girl was the real goal.

Even ten years ago, she was the strongest out of her whole family. Some would like to say it was physical strength that put her over, or incredible speed that she later used to evade me, but Pox saw her real skill. It was the fire inside of her that made the potency of her deadly ability so renound. It was a strength, and inner determination to not die, that beautiful survival instinct that made her a 100% guaranteed deal if you ever touched her hands.

Yes, her family had the same, but in her it was so much stronger. She was truly something to behold...and now, ten years later, she back. She had literally fallen into his lap, somewhere in this small boy's body and all he had to do was find her before she took off again. Pox reached a finger from his lips to a picture placed on a pure-glass table in front of him, tracing it over a small, half-burnt family photo. A small, nine-year-old girl looking out with a small, shy smile and pale grey eyes, like clouds after a storm. So innocent. So strong.

"She's quite the runner, isn't she? Ten years, darling...but don't worry. It wont be one day longer before we meet again. Will it boys?"The man eccentuated the last sentence, and a rumble of agreement wafted through the room, along with a growing excitement in the colorless eyes of the vaccined virus who, despite obvious road blocks and a time frame almost comically short, could not erase the smile from his lips.

Because for the first time in ten years, he saw his golden opportunity. Thrax wouldn't have to worry anymore. After Pox caught his little runner, broke that fire inside of her and manipulated it to his own use, he wouldn't need to steal bodies ever again.

"Iris Talia Peoni..."

_Iris's p.o.v****_

The light was what really woke me, filtering in from a hole in the ceiling that had been covered in a tarp long ago, holes and tears as if it were attacked by an animal covering the fabric that hung like minighosts from the rafters of the broken and sad-looking building, so run-down that no one could tell what it was anymore. I rolled over, body no longer stiff from sleeping on thread-bare matresses strewn in odd places. I lay there for just a moment, and then instantly got up, as if already energized for the day.

I stood for a moment in the center of the empty room, taking in the utter transformation anything took in the daylight. A building could go from unwelcoming and sharp as the teeth in the maw of a monster, to a virtual room of light, the beams invading from every crevasse and hole and falling almost purposefully in the center of the room. It was a beautiful place, and leaving it would almost be saddening. Few bodies had such beautiful wreckage.

It almost lulled a dangerous sense of safety over me, a sense I tried to fight back with reminders of yesterday, of the germs from the alley. But that only served to bring back and unwanted face, a face that caused the late night I'd had just lying on my back and starring up into the darkness of the hole in the ceiling. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get his face out of my head.

It was ridiculous, and I once again closed my eyes, scowling at myself and thinking that this man was just one of a thousand and more viruses out there, and that he was as bad as all the rest. All the rest except for one, who was infinitly worse. And that thought was one that not only made me shiver, but twisted my gut until I felt like I'd be sick. Not a wonderful way to start the morning. Then again, not an uncommon one.

I decided that now was a better time than ever to traverse the body, that safe feeling telling me that, aside from a few germs, in the daytime not much could happen to me. Moving quickly, jumping from one of the windows and landing a few feet below on another roof that was right up against the building I'd slept in, I played almost a game of hopscotch with roofs and balconys, each more dangerous to land on than the last and a few taking my hands to climb down.

Eventually, I managed my way into a brightly-lit alley that wouldn't be occupied during the daytime by any dangerous germ or virus. So I walked, feeling like a lightbulb in the darkness with the sharp contrast of white on black. I instinctively ducked my head a bit, entering the end of the alley and hearing people, not wanting to attract any attention at all.

"No! Stop! Oh Hector, someone stop my child!"I heard the mother's voice, and froze, everything in front of me stopping as my eyes widened and took everything in a slow frame-by-frame. I'd walked out onto the sidewalk, and right into a moment of life-and-death. The mother's voice was too familiar, the words needing a city name changed, a 'save' instead of 'stop', and they were almost identical to the ones that ripped through my very being at that moment.

My insides hollowed out, and then re-filled with a mindless need to save the child that the red-blood cell mother was shouting at. The child that now paused in the street, no more than two years old, and turned with wide, innocent eyes at the massive Protein Truck that was going too fast to stop. Too fast for the child to move, or anyone to react. Too fast for everything.

Everything but me.

I was off the sidewalk and in the center of the street before a bystander could blink, the child was in my arms before the truck could get within ten feet, and we were diving forward onto the sidewalk within milimeters of the screaming metal side-panels of the truck. I landed hard on my back, having twisted in the air to save the child and now feeling the sting of the pavement, a wet mark on my shoulderblade that I chose to ignore for the moment.

All I cared about was what had just happened. That woman's voice had set off a chain reaction that, the second the ran over and ripped the child from me, not knowing that the ring on her finger had hooked onto my right-hand glove and, as she took the child quickly, pulled it clean off. Not knowing that my heart stopped the second it went flying back into the alley, and I felt the air on my hand for the first time in years.

I gasped silently, stumbling backwards onto my feet as vertigo overtook me, the crash onto the pavement harder than I'd realized in my adrenaline-filled state and shaking my center of balance, making me stumble again as two of everything filled my vision. Hand. That was all I could think of. Had to get the glove. Had to cover my hand. Had to keep it from any white-blood cell near me.

"Oh thank you, you saved my-"The woman's voice caught in her throat as I looked up, disoriented and squinting, five of her dancing in and out of focus as my mind tried to regain any sense of normalcy. Everything was hazy, moving, sickening...

But her next words were crystal clear. As were the shouts of bystanders that followed, of men and the hurried footsteps. As were the first blows that hit me.

"VIRUS!"


	3. Chapter 3

_-Alright! Like I promised, I'll explain the significance of the main character's name. Her initials are ITP, which is a rare blood disorder I had when I was very little. The medical facts about it will not be exactly accurate in this fanfiction, but if you want to know more about it there's the Google machine just a click away. Not incredibly important, but just a fun fact. I hope you are all enjoying this, and remember to review to tell me how you like it or if you would like to see anything! Love you guys.-_

_Iris's p.o.v****_

I surpressed every instinct that was screaming to come out, muscles twitching and aching for two reasons: I had the inate need to defend myself with all my strength, and the blows and pavement on the side of my body were coming in rapid, powerful succesion. I did all I could, shoving my bare hand between my other arm and ribs, hiding it from the men who blindly attacked, forgetting that I just saved a child. They were acting like I'd shoved it into the street myself, as if I hadn't just risked my life to go and pluck it from the path of the truck.

They just hated me because I was a virus. And who'd ever heard of a virus saving anyone? A certain amount of spite filled me as I was thrown, hard, across the street and crawling pitifully over to a metal tower that held up nerve lines. And yet I didn't attack them, didn't do anything in my defense even though this whole thing could have been over moments ago. They were blindly attacking, not thinking...and yet I couldn't blame them.

They didn't know. How could they? I took more pity on them than I did hostility, thinking of how blind they were, of the danger they were throwing themselves into when they thought they were saving an innocent woman and her child. They had no clue of the conciequences if they did one small thing wrong, and though they were grown men and I was just a bleeding and broken teenage girl, I looked on them like they were children.

Not looking into anything, not thinking it through, not knowing the real story. Just children with innocently naive minds, like every adult I'd ever met. I just sat there, curled up with my knees to my chest, waiting for it all to be over, waiting for the next blow to come or the telltale sirens that would scatter the four-man mob that must be descending upon me now, the scream of the mother and her hurried footsteps barely registering in my foggy mind.

From the hit I took landing on the sidewalk to all the kicks and punches my body had taken, my vision had remained impaired for the past few minutes, body beginning to ache as my lungs burned and ripping pain ran up my right arm from the elbow where one of the men had landed a hard either step or kick, I couldn't tell. All I knew was that I hurt. I hurt _bad._

There was a reason I'd learned how to fight so well, and that was because, with a body this small and underfed, even the most half-hearted of attacks could bruise me at least, let alone this full-on defensive attack, the hits and kicks coming from deep-seeded fear. And no matter how strong anger was, or adrenaline, nothing made people fight harder than fear.

I waited, sucking in a breath and clenching my jaw, keeping my eyes closed as I waited for my vertigo to subside at least, wondering what was taking the men so long. It had been moments, and at first I wondered if they'd just regrouped or maybe run off, if there were police sirens that I couldn't hear, that maybe my hearing had been damaged during a swift punt to the temple that had me seeing blue for a moment too long.

But still nothing, not even after another few seconds. Cautiously, trying to not get my hopes up that maybe the men had fleed on their own, I slid my legs down straight, one at an angle to try and ease the pain in my knee, and opened my eyes as far as they'd go. Once I managed to get them almost fully open, an aching bruise under one eye, I took in the scene before me with surprisingly clear vision.

The men hadn't run. But they weren't about to attack anytime soon, either. They all lay in the street, thrown places and completely unconcious, limbs limp and shallow breaths barely audible through absent-minded groans and muffled noises. At first, fear filled me, wondering if whatever had done this to the men was about to come at me, too...

And then I looked up more, with an aching head, and saw him. Indistinguishable, unmistakable after trying to fource him out of my mind for an entire night. The man who's face I could place perfectly with the silouhette leaning against the wall of the alley he was shadowed in, though his face at the moment was covered in darkness. It was him, no doubt about it, and almost instantly something inside of me twisted, but not sickeningly.

It wasn't something easily describable, like worry or anger. Instead, it was the same feeling I'd gotten when I looked into his eyes for the first time, a sense that I was seeing something unlike all the rest, and then a little something more. Something I couldn't distinguish, but somehow made something incredibly odd and ridiculous happen. Something that made me think I had been hit far harder than I first thought, and some part of my nucleus that processed rational thought had been severely damaged...

Because I felt not one ounce of adversity or anger. This man, I felt, wasn't here to hurt me... And then I looked at the men laying on the street in front of me, and the sudden appearence of the red man, and things began to add up...and at the same time become incomprehensibly confusing.

"Gotta wonder why a fighter like you just laid there and took it."I heard the man ask in his rhythmic, smooth, slightly gritty tone. I glared a bit, as much as my face would allow at the moment, and said nothing as he stepped forward out of the shadows, into the light of the street lamps across the road. I saw things about him now that I hadn't had time to before, like his tall stature and imposing yet not ridiculously-large frame. Lean, and yet something about him seemed...lethal.

And it wasn't until I was able to look away from his frame, from the face that I felt ashamed somehow for recognizing almost immediatly, that I saw what he was hanging off a long, violet claw, the elbow of the arm resting on his hip as he dangled the object carelessly and almost mockingly. I would have given a larger reaction had my body allowed it, feeling more and more pain seep into my body from a beating that was one of the worse ones I'd taken in a long, long time.

Instead, through a haze of confusion and defensiveness, all I could feel was a tight heat in my chest, an anger that tensed what muscles I could feel. I panted, looking suspiciously at the man as I demanded in a breathless, defensive voice,

"Give me that." A smirk changed his face, his mouth pricking up in the corner and eyes narrowing a bit, a look of amusement and almost playful mocking crossing his features as he leaned forward a bit, taking a step off the sidewalk. The way he moved was smooth, shoulders swaying as he stepped and face never changing, violet dreadlocks flipping backwards as he shook his head once.

"Now now, that ain't any way to thank someone, baby."He mused, stopping a few feet from the sidewalk. My eyes narrowed more, him confirming the odd thought that had crossed my mind. So...he'd stopped them. They were all laying on the ground because of him, and I was able to regain feeling slowly through my body because...I didn't feel right thinking that he 'saved' me, not knowing his motives, especially when he held my glove on a long, leathal-looking claw.

The strongest feeling of suspicion I'd ever felt swarmed up inside me, and I instantly did not trust this man. Defensive and not wanting to give him, a man of strength that, looking at the men who'd been taken out in a few moments, was nothing short of deadly, a chance to attack me. So I moved, trying to make it look like I was still fully-functioning and failing miserably.

I tried to stand once, but ended up falling back on my right side, the arm clenching up and pain so terrible ripping through it that I almost passed out, black dots blinding my vision for a moment that sent a shiver of fear down my spine. Determined to get to my feet before this man could attack, to show that I at least had the power left to not go down without standing, I tried again. This time was more sucessful, only stumbling once and using the metal structure behind me to catch myself, standing now and leaning all my weight back on the cool metal.

My eyes snapped back to the man, and I was surprised to see that, even when I was limply stumbling to my feet, he hadn't moved an inch. The only thing different was his face, which no longer showed amusement but an emotionless, unreadable expression, almost intruiged with one eyebrow cocked and a thin, flat mouth. I built up the strength to reach out my good arm, panting from the exertion but trying to hide as much struggle as possible.

"Give it to me. Now."I ordered, voice still a bit strained but stronger now that I had time to regain a meager amount of strength and pride. That amusement came back onto his face, but the curiosity didn't leave, giving him a bit of an odd, aloof look.

"I could do that, baby...but I have a better idea in mind."He mused, looking at the glove as he swirrled the claw, spinning it around the tip and making me cringe, as if the glove were made of glass when, in reality, I just wanted it back, and bad. That glove might as well be made of glass, with the history I had with it. I couldn't honestly remember a moment in the past seventeen-or-so years when I'd ever taken that thing off, or been seperated from it.

At this point, it felt like the black, beaten, worn piece of fabric was part of me, the air almost foreign and stinging against my exposed hand.

"See, baby, you're one of a kind."The man mused slickly, eyes sliding sideways and looking at me from the corners, my own eyes flickering between the glove and him, locks of hair in my face that I didn't have the energy to brush back. "It ain't every day I get to see a virus like you 'round a city, so how 'bout you answer some questions, and Big Daddy Thrax'll give you your pretty little glove back. What do you say?"

I looked from the glove to him, torn and caught between glaring at him and looking helplessly at the glove. Questions weren't things I answered, hadn't been things I'd been asked in as long as I could remember. Whatever questions this odd man had about me, and for whatever reason, I desperatly wanted a way out of them.

"Hm? C'mon, use that pretty voice of yours for me, hm?"The man asked, his words smooth and with dark undertones, something about them sending a heat through my chest, though good or bad I couldn't decide yet. I settled on the most likely, bad, and made a decision that was probably one of the worst I'd made as of yet. It was my glove, the only thing that kept all these people safe from me, the one thing my father said could give me any opportunity in the world.

If I couldn't hurt anyone, I could do anything I wanted to. Unfortunatly, when my father had told me this, he didn't know how severely liminting my future was, the course of events that was going to leave me with two options and two options only: Run or die. And right now, I wasn't ready to die.

I pushed off the metal structure, legs stronger through the severe pain, and was about to turn and run until I knew this man couldn't catch me.

Unfortunatly, a shadow behind him delayed my plans.

Before he could blink, I'd sprinted up to him, legs aching and screaming at me from the mild exertion, my right fist closing and shooting up, feeling like the muscle tore right of the bone, and landed on the massive germ's face. I wasn't sure why I used my right hand, when that arm was by far worse off than the other, when that hand was the most lethal weapon I could imagine having, and when the germ turned out to be a massive, muscule-ridden, rogue white-blood cell.

It was a moment that required no thought, no stopping to think about the concequences, and no wondering why I'd just done this for a man who was, by my definition, an enemy. A moment when I, for the first time since I actually got a handle on this curse, killed the white blood cell what was about to attack the man from behind with what looked like a baseball bat with a steel tip. The weapon was raised in the air the moment that I used my left hand to pull the man down by his jacket to get over his shoulder, fist flying past his face and landing in the white blood cells forehead and eyes.

At first, it was a pause, my fist firmly implanted in the cell's face, my own stomach dropping in dread and at the same time a bit relieved at the fact that this cell was, in every form of the word, bad. And then the sizzling, and the scream of the man as he flew back, tearing himself away as his weapon clattered noisily on the ground, hands flying to his face as, like a fire on the edge of a paper, it burned away at the edges.

It looked exactly like someone took a lighter and held it up to the man, the man being made of paper, with the small ember on the edges a pure white that stood out even against the lighter membrane as it burned down, the man's arms going slack as it finally, with one last push, singed away his entire body, just a few sickening globs of white membrane slapping onto the street amoungst shreds of clothing, all falling limp and lifeless and without any real form.

The man stepped to the side and spun around, and I could feel his eyes on me, a sickening, stomach-churning sense of guilt eating away at me as I tore my eyes from the sight before me. I'd gotten used to not seeing that every time I touched someone, going over a decade without having to witness a reminder of exactly why every single white-blood cell in every body should fear me, and why I'd never be able to fit in with a normal life ever again. As if I had one to begin with.

"Oi! Little girl, you wanna try that with me huh?!"A furious, sloppy voice shouted, and I spun around to see another germ, this one truly a germ with four eyes on his face and one on his arm, all blinking in unison as he ran towards me with what looked like a metal rod, but I couldn't be sure as I ducked suddenly and stiffened, feeling his foot hit my side as he tripped over me. The pain was almost not worth it, re-injuring what felt like a horrible bruise on my ribs.

I stood quickly, stumbling backwards and looking up, fully prepared to see the man turning back to me, instead finding him already taken down by the red man, who threw him to the ground and held my glove with his right hand, the left hand raising the claw and actually lighting it, the violet surface glowing a violent and angry red. It came down like a knife, cutting across the germ's throat and, almost instantly, bubbling out red lava-like goo.

And this, while just reinstating my assumption of just how deadly this man was, was all I saw. Because, seeing this coupled with my need to run fast and far, away from all of this, I'd turned and started sprinting before the man could even turn around. I kept going, breathing painful and aching, body feeling like every bone and muscle was slowly tearing with each and every step, tasting blood in my mouth and feeling the sting of air on my exposed palm as a reminder of my worst weakness.

_'This is yours now, okay? From the moment you put these on, you can never take them off. These aren't just a fashion statement, Iris. These are everything you will ever stand for. The moment they come off, you've lost who you are, and that's all you're ever gonna have in this life.'_

_'Run. No matter what happens, no matter what's chasing you or what you're heading towards. Just run.'_

I tried to shake the words from my head, two debating voices screaming at me, all because of that man, all because of that child, all because of those men. It had been 24 hours. If I'd left when I woke up, if I listened to the voice of reason nagging at me when I'd lulled myself into a false sense of safety, I wouldn't be like this. I wouldn't be in pain, that man wouldn't have my glove, and I wouldn't have been attacked three times in one day's time.

By the time I'd reached the building, I was almost stumbling across roofs. I damn near fell into the small window just above the roof of the adjoining building, my feet hitting the floor and my body instantly giving out. I fell onto the floor, groaning loudly with no one to hear and letting out a loud, frustrated curse. My lungs burned, but not from running. My body was bruised, but from what I could tell nothing was broken. Just pain, agonizing pain with every movement and breath and blink and cringe.

My right shoulder was killing me, a throbbing ache pulsating as I shifted my weight onto my back, lying on the dirty, dusty floor and looking diagnally up at the hole in the ceiling, light filtering down into it still, falling and making the matress I'd slept on almost glow. And damn that matress looked good right about now, but my body had other plans. I'd put it through enough, and if it wanted to give up here and rest, then it was, no questions asked.

Questions...

Before I fell asleep, ludicrously, out of all the things that had happened and I could have mulled over into a torturous lullabye, I thought about what questions that man had. Why would he have any? What would they be?...And why had he shown up again? Some part of me shivered at the thought of that man following me, or something much worse...that maybe he worked for HIM. But that was ridiculous. If he did, wouldn't he have killed or captured me long ago?...

Amoungst unanswered questions and pain, laying on my back sorely and gazing up at a hole in the ceiling, I fell into a sleep that my body didn't want, but demanded.

_Thrax's p.o.v****_

"Now why would an ugly mother like you be after a girl like her?"I asked the goner below me, the third man who had jumped me after I paused, realizing that the girl had vanished again. He was no suffocating under my boot, trembling and willing to answer anything for a chance at living through this.

"B-Boss wanted her!"

"And who's Boss?"I asked, the man trembling and terrified, but keeping his trap shut. I 'tsk'ed and staightened up, cracking my neck and turning around. Before the man could say anything, a scream ripped from his throat, the bubbling from the cut I'd made in the pavement audible as it covered that sucker like water. I didn't pay much mind to his screams of agony, having heard better and worse before.

Instead, I looked down at what I had in my hand. It was small, and I almost couldn't believe that a hand that slight could have put that vice-grip on my throat like she had. But it was hers, I'd seen it fall right off as she saved that bitch's little brat, only to be repaid by getting the shit beaten out of her by 'helpful bystanders'. They jumped the kid, and I'd paused only because I'd expected her to outdo them like she did the germs. Hell, if she could take them down, a group of civilians should have been pieces of cake...

And yet she didn't lift a finger to fight for herself. I'd waited a moment, and then another, but all she did was curl up and place the exposed hand under her arm, as if hiding it from the men who were beating her like she was a full-grown man and not a small girl. I'd done less fucked-up things. I'd picked up the glove because I figured it was important to her, and the second I re-stumbled on her in almost an identical situation to the first one, I decided to put all this shit to rest.

All night, all yesterday, all I could think about was this kid. And it wasn't healthy, wasn't good to linger on a person like this. I knew that better than anyone, having the shortest record in a body in history, taking it down 48 hours a year after that situation with Frank. I didn't give a damn about anyone other than me, and that had got me damn far, the only set-back bein' not takin' Jones seriously enough. But that was a whole different situation.

I wasn't tryin' to kill this one, just needed time to think, to sort out what the hell I was gonna do from here on, with Pox screwing everything up and my rep down the gutter. I didn't need to take anyone seriously...so why was this girl on my mind? I'd asked this question more than any other one I had about that albino kid, and the answer was always the same: There was no answer.

I'd like to have thought that this was an isolated situation, that this wouldn't happen ever again if I just got my few answers, indulged a bit, and then got back on track. Just a random phenomenon, nothin' more. I looked back down at the glove and thought about what she'd done to that white-blood cell, about that feeling I'd gotten when she got close to me, about this 'boss' that wanted her.

And I stopped myself from thinking before I came up with more questions. The less I knew the better, the quicker this was done the better. And I knew just where to get my answers.

_Iris's p.o.v****_

Something was wrong. I didn't know what, but something was off, something different than when I'd fallen asleep. My body ached slightly less, and I felt that I would be able to move without much resistance. But at the same time I felt a weight over me, not the sluggish kind either. A legitimate weight, a fabric I felt on my bare arms and hand, the hand that felt the cold wood beneath my hand and reminded me of what had happened yesterday.

And suddenly I realized what was wrong. There was a blanket over me. And someone else was in the room.

"Good, you're up. Now, 'bout my questions, baby girl..."


	4. Chapter 4

_Iris's p.o.v****_

I was shoved completely against the wall, knees up and glaring at the intruding man who sat so non-chalantly in front of me on the matress, arm resting on his knee and giving me a calm and amused look. The same look he gave me the second time I saw him, the look he gave to those cops. A look of confidence, a look of defiance.

But at the time it wasn't nearly as captivating as it had been yesterday.

"Get out!"I shouted, noticing that no pain followed it, wondering how long I'd been asleep. He raised an eyebrow, and this time I noticed he was wearing a pair of dark black shades, hiding a part of his face that I depended on to read him, to see exactly what he was planning...not that it had worked out lately.

"Someone shows up in your abandoned apartement in the middle of Hector-knows-where, and that's your only reaction?"He mused, leaning forward as I instantly shrank back, frowning angrily at the floor in embarrasement, struggling to find the right thing to say. But what was I supposed to ask? How he got here? How he knew where to find me? To be honest, did I want to know?

"Ohhh, baby,"He mused in a sing-song voice, flipping his dreads back and pointing at me with that claw, "No wonder you been in more scraps than a mutt. You gotta be more careful."

"Are you the one to be telling me that?"I snapped, surprised at my own bravery and the almost not-worried tone I'd taken on, when inside I was a swarm of nerves and confusion. He kept an even face, and I couldn't read in his eyes if there was anything else going on in that head of his. He just leaned forward a bit more, grey baggy pants showing under his black trenchcoat, and said airily,

"Woah now, I'm here on a matter of buisiness. No need to get hot and bothered." I snapped a glare at him, but it didn't last long. At the moment, I was more suspicious than anything as to the ridiculously absurd reason for why he was here. So, hoping he'd get the hint and continue, I remained silent. After a moment or two, he finally sat back and reached the left-handed claw behind him, and then brought forth the black glove that I remembered just now that he still had in his possesion, making me stiffen considerably.

"See, I've got somethin' you want. And you got somethin' I want. I think it speaks for itself, don't it?"His words came out smooth and professional, almost like he'd practiced them but not as stiff and formal. It was hard to describe, and even harder to focus on when all I could see was my glove, the only security I had left, as the man pointed it towards him and looked at it with an apathetic curiosity.

'You got somethin' I want'...I couldn't imagine what it was, and a maze of things flew past my mind, some simple and others...I shook myself inwardly, knowing that, even with a mild pain in my legs and arms, I could get away from this man. Even with his surprising strength and smooth yet deadly movements that he displayed today(the undimmed light above a sign that I hadn't slept too long), I had a confidence that I'd avoid any attack he sent my way.

"...What do you want?"I demanded quietly, trying to sound confident and failing when I needed to most. He paused a second and, even with the shades on, I could see a moment of conflict cross his face, trying to hide it by looking at the glove. But I caught it, though it only lasted a second or two if that, his mouth thinning out, almost as if he didn't know himself. Almost as if this whole thing were as odd to him as it was to me.

Finally, he cracked his neck then looked back at me, pointing to me with the claw.

"You've caught me on a boring day, sweetheart, and piqued my interest. If you answer some of the questions I got, I'll give you back your pretty glove. What do you say?"

I waited a moment to see if he was serious, but he didn't laugh or change his facial expression. Just sat there, expecting me to answer...questions? Why in Hector would he have questions about me? I thought back, on the first time I saw him and just the...different air about him. There was something confusing about this man, something I couldn't place my finger on or, for that matter, wanted to. This man, to me, was exactly the oppisit of what I wanted to focus on.

If I let him get me distracted by curiosity, if I mulled over any questions I might have about him, like why he had interest in me in the first place, then everything I'd been through would be worthless. Besides, I was an albino-like nineteen-year-old who he ran into twice. Why would he have any questions about me? I didn't believe him for one second when he said that I'd caught him on a 'boring day'. After what happened, today was anything but boring, as well as yesterday.

"Time's tickin' baby, and I'm a very busy man."He mused, and I looked again at the glove. Questions...I didn't like questions. I hadn't been asked any, but you don't need to be asked questions to know that your past isn't worth re-telling, especially not to a man who shows up in your apartement after suspiciously showing up in places you were in... And yet, at the same time, he had my damn glove.

I clenched my teeth together, knowing I'd been backed into a corner with no pleasent way out. I saw the man cock an eyebrow, and silently I relented. If I could get this over with fast, I could make it out of this city in the next hour. I need out, and now, giving this man as little information as possible.

"...What questions?"I asked quietly, suspiciously, and his grin widened.

"That's a good girl, I thought you'd see it my way. Let's start with your name, hm?"He asked, and I was about to refuse when he turned the claw, the glove hanging off the end and reminding me that, out of all the questions he could have asked, my name was by far one of the better ones. So, relenting once again, I took in a deep breath and said in a slightly defiant tone,

"Iris." He paused, as if expecting more, but I was dedicated on giving him as little information as possible about myself. He wanted specific answers, he'd have to ask specific questions. After he realized that was all he was gonna get, he got that amused look back.

"Iris, huh? Ain't that a pretty name."He almost seemed like he was mocking me, but at the same time it was almost like...he was serious. I didn't want to think like that, already in a ridiculous situation and not wanting to make it worse.

"Well, Iris, tell me why you let those assholes beat the shit out a' you this morning?"I almost flinched with how quickly the situation turned on me, as if it had ever been in my favor to begin with. My mind raced, trying to think a way out of this one and give him skin-deep information, not coming up with any solid ways and knowing that, if I wanted to get my glove back, I had to come up with an answer fast.

I felt myself shrink inside, looking down and away in almost embarrasment, having never actually spoken these words out loud before and trying to think of a way to make them sound...not so pathetic and question-invoking. I felt like I was barring my very soul to this man that I couldn't detest more, telling him things no one knew all for my glove back.

"...I didn't have my glove."I muttered, knowing the question that was coming next and dreading it...

"...You kill people with those little hands of yours, huh? Guess we got somethin' in common."He insinuated, and while I was glad it wasn't a question I had to answer, I was no less thrilled to be compared to this man, and before I could stop myself I snapped,

"Only white-blood cells. No one else." He seemed genuinly surprised, giving me a curious and caught-off-guard look as I instantly dropped my gaze, hating that heat that seemed to radiate from his eyes even behind the shades, like he was looking straight into me. Suddenly I wished I'd left this morning, that I'd never even come to this body in the first place...

"A virus who don't wanna hurt no one, huh? How's that workin' out for you?"He asked sarcastically, and I scowled at the ground, muttering,

"Great, until you messed it up."

"Don't remember askin' for your help there, Iris."

"Trust me, I wish I hadn't!"I suddenly snapped, glaring at him as long, pure-white strands of hair fell in my face, his own face giving me a look that was finally not amusement or that unnerving curiosity. A mild bit of hostility formed on his frown, and I was almost relieved. Anger I could deal with, everything else about this man I couldn't.

And yet, almost as suddenly as the outburst had happened, he stopped it.

"So why would those germs be after a virus who don't do her job?" I looked up at the man curiously, eyes narrowed hostily as I asked,

"They were after me?" He seemed a bit surprised, and then I sensed a bit of his own curiosity, my own heart beginning to beat faster as I went to the worst possible outcome, the worst possible answer that would explain too much, far too much. A conclusion I'd been avoiding for not just this moment, not just these past two days, but for the past decade.

"A guess. Just assumed that no one could get into that much trouble without a meaning behind it...why?" I let out a sigh of relief, silently, but that fear that ran through my veins wasn't completely satiated, something inside of me knowing that what he said was completely true. Yes, some bodies were tougher than others, but this was the body of a child. I'd never been attacked this many times in just over 24 hours, let alone in the body of a teenage boy.

It could be coincidence. But that was another thing I ran from.

"No reason."I muttered, resting back against the wall.

"That sure seemed like a reason to me. One of the viruses 'round here got your number?"He asked, and I clammed up faster than ever, clenching my teeth together and refusing to answer. That was something I didn't want to think about, let alone tell another virus. 'Got my number'...hah, if only. If only that's all I was running from. If he only wanted to kill me, then this whole thing would have been a hell of a lot easier. If he just wanted something so trivial, so easy to give him, then I wouldn't be running, now would I?

"...So someone _is _after you. Wonder what a pretty girl like you did to piss off someone with such heavy friends."He insinuated the question, but I didn't answer at all. I couldn't, not when I was remembering that I hadn't done anything to want this man to come after me except exist. That was it. I didn't chose this, didn't want this. I bit my lip, glaring at the floor like it was that man himself, that man who ruined my life. My family's life. The one we wanted to lead, the one we wanted to try and suceed at despite the cards we were given.

I didn't chose to be strong. I didn't chose for a major crime boss to want to recruit my family. I didn't chose for him to have stronger henchemen than we thought. I didn't chose for my father to reject his request despite this, because of his pride, because of his set-in-stone morals. I didn't chose for my mother to throw herself in front of us, and then my brother after her. I didn't chose for my father to save me, because he knew I was the real one he wanted.

I didn't chose to have to run. This was all chosen for me. I hadn't done shit to deserve this, but it didn't matter what I did anymore. The only thing I did that mattered was running, running from body to body, running from the man who was still looking for me, from the man who killed my family and wanted to use me as his own personal weapon of mass destruction. Maybe towards. But so long as I was running, it didn't matter.

I wanted to stop sometimes, just to end things. And everytime this happened, I thought about the words that my father said to me, the promise he swore me to keep, holding my arms tight and looking down at me with stormy grey eyes, while his wife and oldest son died just outside that door. He was doing this because he wanted to save the last thing he had left. He did it because he didn't want the man to win, because he'd rather his daughter run forever than live a life of murder.

He let his wife, son, and eventually himself die to keep me going. The least I could do was keep my promise...

Something fell on me, and it took me a second to look up and see what it was, lying on my knees like a runaway cat come home. The glove. I looked up quickly, the man standing and fixing his shades, running a hand coolly through his dreads and frowning a serious, almost intimidating frown at the door to the small room. He was going to leave. Just like that...

He gave me the glove back, even after I hadn't answered his questions. He gave it back, even though he had no right to, even though that wasn't what viruses did. They weren't supposed to keep bargains and do favors...they also weren't supposed to save people. Confusion clouded my mind as I looked up at him, eyes narrowed in confusion as he slid a hand into a pocket of his jacket.

And, for just a fleeting moment...I wondered if I was wrong about this man. A virus that wasn't completely bad...was that really so ridiculous? But this man, with his air of defiance and danger, clearly having killed more than I'd care to think about, couldn't be like me. Not in any possible way...and yet how did I explain this?

This man was the most confusing individual I'd ever met in my entire existance. One moment he made me hate him, the next he was doing something that was the complete oppisite. I didn't know what to make of this man, and somehow, when I was supposed to answer his questions, I'd ended up with more than he'd asked. All swimming around in my mind, all jumbled and unanswered, and all keeping me still and silent.

He cracked his neck, moving fluidly towards the door and holding his claw up in almost a wave good-bye, then throwing over his shoulder,

"Keep outta alleys, Iris. Big Daddy Thrax ain't gonna be able to save your ass all the time." And, almost as suddenly as he'd appeared, he was gone, the door shut and stirring up dust that got caught in the light from the ceiling. Leaving me in complete silence, except for the screaming questions in my head and the glove on my knees that I slowly looked at, feeling it as if I expected something to be different about it.

And there was. It was warm, very warm, but not uncomftorbly so. Almost like a soothing warm, the kind I hadn't felt since I was a child and would lie in bed with the blankets pulled to my chin. A warmth you didn't get from apartements. A warmth you weren't supposed to get from viruses. And yet, as I pulled it on and the warm fabric soothed my now-comftorble hand, that's exactly what I got.

I wasn't supposed to think of this man as warm, or as someone who took pity on a girl and not only saved her, but did her a favor and kept a promise. I wasn't supposed to have taken my mind completely off leaving...and I damn sure wasn't supposed to be stalling. A sense of anger, dread, and self-hatred filled me to my core.

No, this was ridiculous. I didn't give a damn what he'd done for me, I was leaving. I was not going to stay, wasn't going to let some stranger keep me here when I had no reason to see him again, a man who's name I didn't even...no. I knew his name, he'd said it before, and again just now.

Thrax.

Somehow, the name fit him perfectly. Defiant. Ruthless. And absolutely confusing. There were things he was hiding from me when I'd been answering his questions, and I knew it. Things that I should and shouldn't want to know. I shook my head, telling myself that this whole experiance in this body had been one of the worst I'd ever been through, and that I should want to get out immediatly. I should.

So why didn't I?

_Third Person p.o.v****_

Six pairs of eyes watched the red virus walk out of the pitifully broken and hallowed apartement, but only two of them showed utter and complete joy at the sight. Those two eyes, only a thin black line darkening in a perfect circle within both, glinted in an odd showing of glee at something that the two massive germs by his side nothing more than suspicious and coincidental. But they didn't understand, not like this man did. They didn't know what this meant, didn't know that the man in the long, sleeveless, floor-length, black jacket had just been dealt a perfect hand.

"So, they're friends. How lovely."He whispered in almost a euphoric tone, a hand trailing down the side of his face before joining the other one below, arms bent and resting on bent knees as he knelt on the very edge of the taller apartement, teetering almost dangerously. But this man felt no fear. He liked to say that this was how he'd gotten so far.

Besides, who could feel fear when a brilliant, game-changing plan was forming in his head, the cause for his sudden glee now flying away, using his black trenchcoat as a type of wing, soon gone. But not for long, no. Small knew this, saw a certain look in the man's eye that he'd never seen before, a look that looked just fantastic on his always-sullen and angry cowl. A look so delicious, because it meant one beautiful thing.

Oh, leave it to his little gem to invoke something like that in a man such as Thrax. Something as rare as...curiosity. Yes, he looked so curious, and Pox didn't even care to know where Thrax was going at the moment. All he knew was that he'd be back. And Pox would be waiting.

"Boss, you want us to go get her now?"The larger of the two henchmen asked in a slurred yet sober speech. Pox, with a wide grin and wide eyes, shook his head and held up a hand, fingers curled slightly over, saying lightly with raised eyebrows,

"No. We wait for Mr. Thrax to come back."

"Ah, killin' two birds with one stone!"The smaller, yet still large, henchman said in realization and malice. Pox snapped his head over, not looking at the man but looking down slightly more to his right,

"No!"He shouted, making both germs jump at their boss's frequent and unpredictable mood swings, "We kill one...we bring the other home. To me." He explained, softer tone now as he gazed dreamily into the apartement of his goal, where he knew that grown-up little girl resided, the most powerful ITP virus to ever exist in a family strand.

'Iris dear...you've been running for too long. It's time to come back home.'

_Thrax's p.o.v****_

This kid was the biggest thorn in my side since Pox. Never had I ever met anyone so damn fascinating, so damn cryptic, that I legitimatly wracked my brains over every little question about them. And what I was doing now...this was a whole new level of obsessed. I was actually doing this, all for some kid I'd known for two days and yet could get out of my damn head. I felt like nothing would ever be clear, I couldn't think, until I got the answers I wanted.

I'd taken into consideration the absolute ridiculousness of the entire damn thing. But I'd long since stopped caring, knowing that I had no other option but this or suffer. If I wanted to get back on track, if I wanted to get to kickin' Pox's ass all over Hector, then this choice wasn't actually as bad as I wanted it to be. This way, I'd clear my head and get my hands on Pox. And who said that, once it was all said and done, I had to stop there? This was one way to get close enough to Jones to repay him for what he did to me.

So I sat there on Chief's desk while he went and got my well of information, the little hispanic chick with moxxy and fight in her. The whole time I could feel my skin crawling, just being near this many Immunity pencil pushers who probably jumped on the story of Jones's lucky catch. I waited for five minutes, five minutes of arguing and fighting with myself, until finally the door opened and in walked that little thing, a suspicious frown on her face.

"Don't look so happy to see me, baby."I drawled, leaning forward into her face as she leaned back a bit, but more defiant this time than before, only a little bit of commonsense fear behind those big, brown eyes.

"Back of, Thrax, or I'll shove your claw up your-"

"Maria!"The Chief snapped behind her, holding onto the handle of the door. The fiery woman stopped, but didn't look back at him, her angry eyes focused on mine. And as I looked at them, a different pair floated in my mind, a pair that showed so many unique emotions that I couldn't seem to get them out. Light grey, like a washed-out blue, hidden behind locks of pure-white hair...

I shook myself, cursing inwardly and realizing that I should have done this a long time ago. I had to get Iris out of my head, had to...

"Give him the information he wants, and then leave. Thrax, Jones will call you when we need you. Otherwise, I don't want to see you two anywhere near each other, understood?"The Chief snapped, and Maria grumbled,

"Believe me, it wont be hard." The Chief sighed, and then shut the door, leaving the room to the two of us. Maria turned and walked away from me, leaning against the wall and pulling out a nail file, working on her nails like she was trying to sand a building.

"So Thrax, what kinda information you lookin' for from Immunity, huh? Inner workings, route directions, weaknesses?"

"A person."I interrupted her, planning on making this sound less pathetic than it really was. She stopped for a moment, looking up at me skeptically before going back to her nails apathetically.

"One of your targets?"

"You could call it that."I mused, agreeing as she shrugged.

"I know every virus, germ, and cell that's been in the medical books, shoot big boy." I raised an eyebrow at how bold she was, but set that aside for later. Inside I felt a naive sense of...embarrasement? No, that wasn't how I rolled, Thrax didn't get embarrased... But I was hoping that this woman didn't read too much into it.

Hell, even I didn't know what to think of it.

"Iris. A virus, completely white from her hair to her damn feet, grey eyes."I mused, realizing that I hadn't actually gotten her full name after those cryptic, half-assed answers. The only reason I'd left was...it was that damn look on her face. She looked like I'd kicked her kitten, but something had told me she wasn't directing it at me. It was...a look I hadn't even seen on the most heartbroken of people. Not even on the faces of widows over their dead husbands. A tragic kinda look with more burden than I cared to look into.

And damn, did it hurt me. I didn't want it to, knew I'd gotten too damned close to that kid, but something about how tragic and dark her past must have been to put a look like that on her face made me crave information. Maria paused, looking up at me with narrowed, suspicious eyes, and for a second I got worried. Worried, but for a reason I didn't know...

"Iris Talia Peoni? What you wanna know about that ITP virus?"She asked, and I couldn't believe she actually knew who the kid was. I had to give this one props, she knew her shit.

"Just someone I gotta get rid of."I mused smoothly, and to my surprise Maria actually laughed. A laugh like she knew something I didn't, leaning back on the wall and shaking her head.

"You wont have to do much, that kid kinda gets rid of herself." Suddenly I was interested, trying to seem nonchalant even as I sat up a bit straighter, keeping silent as Maria continued, "Iris Talia Peoni, daughter of Issac Tom Peoni and Isabelle Trista Peoni. They were the only strand of ITP left after doctors figured out a cure. They only survived because they were never malichious in any body.

"Believe it or not, they were the first known family of viruses to swear off harm to cities and bodies, despite the fact that they could pretty much rule wherever they were. The ITP virus can destroy a white-blood cell within seconds of contact with their hands, being considered one of the most dangerous strands of virus in the world. I got wind a long time ago while I was commissioned in a different body that the entire family fell under the eye of our Small Pox."

Suddenly I tensed, stomach twisting sickeningly and a sense of dread creeping up my chest. Small Pox...that germ was massive, the kind of germ he would have used as muscle. And it was after Iris... That thought shouldn't have disturbed me as much as it did. But if I thought that was bad, what Maria said next made it seem like cake.

"See, he heard that the youngest daughter in the ITP family was one of the strongest ITP viruses ever incubated. This was back when he was just starting to get rolling, had a bunch of muscle heads in it for the money, and he gave the family and ultimatum. Join him and let him use their daughter for his goal, or the mental case would...well, you know." An icy feeling slid down my spine, the woman too wrapped up in her own story and nails to notice.

"Of course, they wouldn't let that happen. So Pox kept true to his words. He killed them all one-by-one, each of them standing in his way to stall. The mother went first, and then the oldest son, Ian Timothy Peoni. The father managed to get Iris out of the house before the guys got to him, but by that time Iris was long gone. Heard it put a real dent in Pox's plans, and he's been lookin' for her ever since. Never caught her, though, and even if she's in this body and that's how you know her, he'll still probably fail."

Her entire family was dead... That was why the kid was so damn defensive. She'd been on her own for years, had to watch her back everywhere she went, had to learn to fight for survival. A small little thing like that all alone in a world that broke all the small things, it was a wonder she was still alive. I thought about when she'd fought those germs, how strong and defensive and almost scared she'd looked.

The girl was put through hell, and despite myself I almost felt bad about how I'd treated her. It made sense, now, why she didn't give me any straight-forward answers. Who would spill their murdered family to a stranger with their glove? Or that a major crime boss was after them? ..It was fucked up. I didn't give a shit anymore who I was supposed to be, how I was supposed to act. At least when I killed someone, it was a full-grown man with enough of a death wish to get in my damn way.

But that girl was so small, so fragile-looking, that only a piece of scum like Pox would try to break her. Only someone that weak would go after a girl like that...though, after seeing her fight, seeing what she learned, Pox might still be in over his head. I looked back up at the woman, me having slid off the desk and now standing against it, and asked,

"And why's that? This is a small body, Pox is sure to run into the kid."

"She's a runner."Maria said calmly, and I cocked an eyebrow. She looked up for a second, and then back to her nails, elaborating. "The kid's been running for twelve years. Never stops, always on the move. She's never in the same body for more than two days, tops, usually 24 hours before moving onto the next one as if she weren't even there. She never stops.

"She's a runner, it's what she does. I wouldn't be surprised if she was already out of this body."The woman said it airily, nonchalantly. And by the time she'd finished, the room was empty. I was gone the second she finished, out the door and walking down the hall.

"Hey, Thrax-"

"Left my number on the desk. Call me when you can't handle your shit."I threw back darkly, not stopping for one second. I couldn't. Not when, after what Maria had told me, I had to go back. I didn't give one damn anymore about 'why', all I cared was seeing if she were lying or not. If Pox had gotten her while I was gone, everyone knowing that all the refugees hung out in that apartement complex. If she had healed from that beating, having only seen a small, discolored bruise on her smooth white skin.

Thinking of her face, of that feeling I got from looking into her pandora's-box eyes, of that albino girl who I hated more than anything...and yet was racing back to the aparetment to see if she was okay...

To see if she was still there. Some surpressed part of me holding onto some idiotic hope that she was, a more rational hope that I'd stop caring no matter what the answer was.


	5. Chapter 5

_-This chapter has slightly more intense scenes of violence. Younger readers cautioned.-_

_Thrax's p.o.v****_

It was empty.

Not even a trace of anyone having been here, the dust on the floor undisturbed, as if the kid didn't even exist. As if she didn't leave imprints she was so small, even the blanket on the ratty, stained mattress layed over it haphazardly as it had probably been when she got here. I slid my hands into my pockets and looked around, finding it hard to believe I was here not two hours ago. Could a kid pick up and leave that fast?...

_'She's a runner. It's what she does.'_

Maria's words rang in my head, and I felt both relieved and bitter at the same time. Bitter because she really was gone, and I still felt like I needed answers to questions I didn't know I had. Relieved because this meant that I could move on from this bullshit, get back down to buisiness... I grit my teeth, knowing I couldn't put things back just yet. 'Can't believe I went through all that just to learn some about a kid that I'd never see again. Nice goin', Thraxy.' I scolded myself, flipping back my dreads and taking another last look at the apartement, Sneeze and Sniff waiting below for me.

It was almost sad, how empty it looked. As if something that defined the past few hours of my life hadn't even happened. As if, though I didn't know it at the time, the one thing that would define my life had never been here, erased by an emptiness that stilled and deadened the atmosphere. Empty, very empty...almost a little too much...

_Iris's p.o.v****_

I laced my hands through my hair, crouched on the roof of the apartement and looking down into it, cursing myself out silently for the fourth time in this hour. Because it had taken me one whole hour to even get myself out of the apartement, and now I'd delayed another hour just sitting here and fighting with myself. My brain screamed at me to move, my heart knew that I had to, but my muscles had minds of their own at the most inconveniant time possible.

I had to leave. I wanted to leave. And the most ridiculous part was that the only thing holding me back from leaving probably didn't care if I did or not. I kept telling myself this over and over again, and yet here I knelt with no sign of leaving anytime soon. All because of one man, who I'd never see again, who got me into enough trouble as it was.

"God damnit Iris. Get your ass outta here before the bastard does anything else to make you stay."I muttered quietly to myself, closing my eyes.

"Well-spoken. Though a bit too late."

Oh god no...

My hair was roughly grabbed, yanked up harshly and bringing tears to my eyes that I quickly surpressed, heart stopped and a horrible, unbearable chill crawling like bugs beneath my skin. I was going to be sick, the utter horror and dread settling in my gut as I was spun around, instantly kicking and fighting blindly, everything in front of me turning into a blurr as my body went into shock.

It couldn't be him. No, things like that didn't happen. Over two billion bodies in this country alone, and he was in the one that I stayed in the longest. No, that was impossible. This was a nightmare, a horrible, stress-induced nightmare. This wasn't real. I had to wake up.

"Calm her down, gentlemen." A voice too calm and kind to have an edge of insanity and deadly intentions behind it. A voice that set you at ease and chilled you to the bone at the same time. No one else had that voice. No one else could imitate it like this.

Hands clenched around my arms and held me in the air, so I kicked, looking down and aiming at anything.

"Dear, I'd stop. You're only making it worse for you and your friend." I didn't listen, didn't care. I had to wake up. Had to wake up, and I'd be back home with Mom and Dad and Ian. And we'd sit together, and talk about all the things we were going to do when the future got brighter. And there would be no Pox, no thugs, no more screaming and no more running. I just had to wake up.

"Fine. I tried to help you, dear." I felt two hands on each ankle, the one holding me wrapping one arm around my arms and pinning them to me and placing a big, meaty hand over my mouth so hard that my teeth hurt. Dread dropped lower in my gut, and I kicked harder, the two men never relinquishing their hold. "Try not to break my toy too much, gentlemen. She's no use as a gimp, afterall."

Snap. Snap.

I was awake.

I screamed, it coming out muffled and feral under the firmly-pressed hand, eyes flying open with tears filling them up, trying to keep them down as an unbearable lump formed in my throat, making it nearly impossible to breathe with the combined pain from my legs and half-covered nose. My legs were let go, a pain running up from both ankles, feeling the aching and ripping pain harder and harder the more I tried to move my legs, getting small twitches at most.

From what I felt like, they'd either fractured or broken both ankles. And I allowed myself that one moment of expressed pain before sucking it up, tensing my jaw and throat, body screaming to release another cry or cringe of pain. But I wouldn't let it, bearing down on myself from a learned skill, pulling back from focusing on the all-consuming pain and trying to focus on getting through the inital waves of pain, knowing that it had to stop sometime, my weight not on both of them as the germ continued to hold me a few inches off the ground.

The two germs who broke my ankles stepped back, me breathing heavily and muffled as I fought through it, vision un-blotting as a shadow moved in front of me. Every inch of skin crawled, knowing the man that had killed my entire family was standing right in front of me, his voice and face that I'd never forget for as long as I lived. Caught between wanting to run and stay and pay him back.

"Iris, you've made quite a name for yourself you know. A virus that leaves bodies as quickly as she enters them, quite a phenomena. Though I don't think you'll be doing much running after this."His voice was polite and articulate, airy and almost joking. Slowly, I looked up, wanting to see the face again, wanting to remind myself why I should have run when I had the chance. I stop once and this happens.

Strands of long white hair couldn't block this man's face from me. A tint of jaundice-yellow over slightly feminine features, smiling pure-white eyes with a ring of black outlining the iris, one small, short strand of black hair falling to his eyebrow, the rest pulled crisply back into a ponytail. His thin lips were pulled into a calm smirk, not one of cockiness but almost an amused and sad look, as if he hadn't just broken both my ankles, as if he just punished a pet.

I seethed behind the germ's hand, breathing heavy and hateful, muscles in my upper body tense as the rest remained relaxed to minimize the already-ebbing pain. This was the face. The exact same face, with the exact same smile, and the exact same air about him. Different germs, same virus. And the chills never stopped running up my spine, heart making up for lost time and beating a million miles per minute.

"Now, I'd love to hear your speak. It's been so long since I saw you last, and you grew up just beautiful, just like I knew you would... Oh now, don't give me that look. It's not like I'm going to kill you, afterall. Anyways, I'd love to hear you, but unfortunatly I can't trust you'll be quiet enough for our surprise. So just know that this isn't because I'm angry at you, I forgive you."He explained almost sincerely, reaching a hand forward and brushing back my hair with a surprisingly and deceptively gentle hand, me doing all I could to not jerk away and cause another stab of pain.

He trailed his hand from the top of my head down the side of my face, the back of his fingers sliding down until he turned them and cupped the side of my face, his palm unnaturally cold, almost like ice. He got almost an adoring look in his eyes, a look that might have fooled me when I was younger, when I'd experienced less betrayal and deception. Now, I just felt an overwhelming sense of hate, a hate that burned inside me and coiled in my stomach, a scream-inducing hatred that I had to stifle down so he wouldn't take it for weakness.

The uncaring eyes of the man who took my family from me. Looking as if it were a formality he'd long forgotten about. My family that he took, and he didn't give a damn. All he cared about was me, but not even that. He cared about my strength and my ability to help his crippled potency regain an ounce of fear and admiration amoungst all those who no longer saw him as a threat. I'd be no different from these germs around me, looking like giant bouncers as the crossed their arms on either side of Pox.

"Now, my precious little thing, I'm afraid we'll have to wait a moment longer. I want to surprise your friend you made. I am very proud of you, by the way, for making such a powerful friend."He mused, brushing a thumb across my cheek bone before taking it away, my eyes widening as I realized who he was talking about. I struggled, pulling my arms at the muscular one holding me, not caring about the pain that ripped through my ankles, heart dropping again as I thought about this man hurting Thrax.

It was almost as if I cast everything aside that I'd once thought about the man. About how much trouble he got me into. Blackmailing me with my glove. Fourcing me to ask those questions. Thrax had saved me twice, and the thought of Pox hurting him in the ways I knew he could...

"Oh don't worry!"He exclaimed, lightly raising his eyebrows with an earnest face, "He wont feel much. Now hush, he should be back any second now. With a look on his face like the one he had when he left, I'm dissapointed he hasn't come back yet."

"Sorry, baby, let me make it up to you."

I gasped behind the hand holding me, Pox's composure finally breaking as his eyes widened and he spun around, only to get hit so hard that the impact made me cringe, falling back as the germ holding me stepped in front of him. Thrax was fighting the second I was able to see him, black trench coat acting as almost a screen of darkness, the germs looking dazed before they were given deep, boiling gashes in their necks and heads. He moved with an elegant danger that was too quick and lithe for even the quickest of the germs.

Once he'd disposed of the last one, kicking him off the roof with the others laying in puddles of themselves, the germ holding me finally let go. Which wasn't as good a thing as I was hoping.

The second my feet slammed onto the roof, I let out a scream, the pain blinding me and sending a cold sweat through my body, falling hard on my side as I cringed, panting hard and clenching my teeth together to fight through it. My mind began to grow fuzzy, white spots sizzling in my vision as I heard shouts and hard footsteps near me, fighting to stay awake when I knew I was fading fast, my body finally succumbing to the pain and wanting to take a time-out until it was gone.

"Let's go!"I heard Pox shout, then a grunt from Thrax. There was a weird 'whoosh'ing sound somewhere far off, my face resting on the ground at this point with my arm under my head, eyes drooping as I felt a numbness trickle up from my throbbing ankles, a feeling of unconciousness seeping over me.

"Yo, Iris baby, stay with me a'ight?...Spit! C'mon kid...let's...gotta..."His voice fadded in and out of my mind, the last thing I remembered before falling into a blackness being the curious...safety I felt. Normally I was either fighting for my life or suspicious...but not now. Now, I felt like everything was going to be okay, at least while I slept...

_Thrax's p.o.v****_

I watched him get picked up by the germ that sucker-punched me so hard I'd blacked for a second, vision coming back just when he jumped off the roof, landing on something hard below. For a second I was gonna chase the asshole, finally get my hands on him after that first punch that left me wanting much more. But two things stopped me. The first being that the thing he landed on was, apparently, a helicopter, one that rose faster than any I'd ever seen, the blades making a subtle sound as they cut the air and propelled them off like bitches.

The second was remembering Iris behind me. I spun around, eyes widening as I saw her still in the same place she'd been when the germ dropped her. It wasn't like that kid to not move, and at the moment it looked like she wasn't even awake. She lay with her white hair splayed out behind her, one arm under her head and looking limp, face away from me.

I shot over to her, jumping over her and kneeling so that I got a good look at her. Her eyes were fluttering shut, looking like she was just loosing conciousness, though from what I didn't know.

"Yo, Iris baby, stay with me a'ight?"I muttered... And then I remembered Pox's history with this girl, and a chill ran through my blood. If he did anything to her, anything at all, I was gonna rip his throat out with my bare hands. I remembered hearing faint voices above the hole in the ceiling, and then a snapping sound that I hadn't thought much of until now.

I looked down, checking her over until I got to her ankles. The jean legs rode up a bit, just showing what was supposed to be stark-white skin. But, like the bruise under her eye and no doubt on the rest of her body from earlier, purple blood pooled under the skin, staining it as a twisted thought came to mind. A thought that send a fire raging through me, now wishing more agony on that man than I'd ever wished before. Not just because it was her, but because of the twisted joke behind it.

'The bastard broke her ankles...' Break the ankles of a runner. That bastard was gonna get it, and get it bad. "Spit..."I whispered, and then went into some sort of trance, a sudden need to get this kid help no matter what taking over me, and this time I didn't fight it or question it. I reached down and scooped her up, one arm under her knees and the other under her back, standing and cradleing her.

"I gotta get you to a hospital... C'mon! Sniff! Sneeze! Get your asses up here!"I shouted, the two having been given the orders to meet me on the roof as soon as possible.

"H-here Boss!...Oh spit, I think I pulled something..."I heard them panting as they ran up to my sides, leaning over and breathing like they'd just run a marathon. I didn't have time for that, snapping at them,

"Take her, and be damn careful or I'll make you wish you were never incubated!" They both jumped, looking up surprised and curious at Iris as I leaned down and handed her to them. They each took part of her, Sniff with her legs and Sneeze with her upper body. Part of me didnt' want to leave it to these two to carry her, but I was the only one who could start the damn car and get us to a hospital fast, and I couldn't jump with her in my arms.

"Who's this, Boss?"Sneeze asked, as I jumped onto the edge of the roof and got my coat ready to act as a sort of wings to glide me down.

"Don't ask questions, just get her to the car NOW!"I shouted, jumping and soaring downwards. I didn't stop when my feet touched the ground, ripping open the car door and sliding in, slamming it hard and starting the car, tapping the claw on the wheel impatently as I waited for the two to come out. Minutes passed, and I was seconds away from storming in there and finally just killing the two when they finally burst out of the doorway, the door lying broken on the ground from myself.

The only thing that made me relax was that she appeared to be in once piece, the two having somewhat stable grasps on her, almost afraid to touch a girl as they awkardly maneuvered the door open and crawled in. Sneeze shut the door and, the second they'd settled her in a way where they acted as her seatbelts, I floored it.

"Boss! Be careful, you might hurt her with your driving!"Sniff exclaimed in a high voice, and I hated to admit it, but he was right. While still driving well over the speed limint, I managed to drive relatively smoothly, the whole time just thinking about getting that kid safe, and what I'd do to Pox the second I saw him again...

It was quiet compared to what had just happened, the rush and shouts of doctors and nurses who wanted damn bad to call Immunity on me, but saw to it that Iris got cared for first. I now sat next to her, the doctor saying that, from the pain of the bruises and the large fracture on her ankles, her body had gone into a sort of protective sleep bubble. She wouldn't wake up until her body thought it was safe.

I looked down on where her tank top rode up, a thick white wrap around her waist where the worst bruises were. I wasn't allowed in while they were working on her, having to look through the glass window and watching like a hawk, as if Iris meant so much to me that I didn't want them hurting her more. Now that I had time to think about it, everything was too damn ridiculous. But it had been this way so long that I was, dangerously, getting used to it.

They'd told me the bruising was the worst they'd ever seen, that the fractures were obscenely painful, and she'd bruised more bones than they thought was possible, that they were shocked she'd been able to walk at all. 'Course, I hadn't told them more than a few things, keeping almost all of it to myself. A small bit of pride formed inside me, and I smirked at her.

"That's right, kiddo. They ain't seen nothin' like you before, you stupid brat."I muttered, leaning back in the chair I'd been given, finally just standing and leaning against the wall next to her bed. I still didn't know why I was here, having gotten enough confused looks from Sniff and Sneeze who huddled in the corner and watched from afar.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't relieved that she was still in the body, that there was nothing seriously wrong with her, and that the fact that Pox knew she was here made the decision for me that I'd be hunting for him, Immunity or none, until I broke the little fucker's ankles like he did to Iris. Except this time, I wouldn't stop at that. I still didn't know why I was going to the length I was for this kid, and part of me was still concerned about this drastic change in character.

I liked who I was. Had gotten far with who I was. Any change wasn't good, but this...this didn't feel so much as change, just more of a detour of my normal morals.

"He's right in here, Mr. Jones."I heard one of the doctors say outside the door, and I inwardly groaned. I didn't need his shit right now. I looked up, hands in my pockets as Jones and the rest of the gang stormed in, including Chief. Osmosis threw out his arms and immediatly exclaimed,

"Yo Thrax, where the Hector you been?! I been callin' you all day, we needed you for a meeting back at Immunity! You think you can just swing by whenever? Where you been anyway- Who's she?" He looked over at Iris, and I frowned, saying as I tried to contain my composure,

"Left my cell back home, didn't think you guys were so useless you'd need me today. And that's..."

"That's Iris Talia Peoni!"Maria exclaimed when I faultered, the woman walking up to the bed and looking from her to me. I grit my teeth and looked away, a shriveling feeling of embarrasement filling me as her judging eyes scoured me, and then finally saying in a realization, "Is this why you wanted to look for her? You always hang around the hospital rooms of your targets?"

"I didn't do this!"I snapped, everyone in the room looking surprised as I silently cursed myself. Great, now all these morons could see it, too...

"It's true! It was Small Pox! Boss actually saved her and brought her here! Nice guy he is!"Sniff said in a well-to-do manner, me shooting him a glare so intense that he screamed and hid behind Sneeze, who trembled and offered a jittery smile. Those two were gonna get it, I swear to god...

"You really do that? Hey, maybe Thrax ain't so bad after all-"

"Oh I'll show you Jones just how bad I still am!"I warned, a hand wrapped around his throat as he fought to get it off, choking with everyone still too confused to move. Everyone that is, except Maria, who seemed to grasp this a lot faster than all the others.

"Back off Jones."She said, and this time it was my turn to give someone a surprised look, so shocked that I actually dropped Jones and let him take in a massive breath of air. She crossed her arms and looked down at Iris, who still slept soundly.

"...This true, Thrax?"She asked, without looking at me. I frowned and shoved my hands back into my pockets, glad I'd slid on my shades so I couldn't see the looks of the others out of the corner of my eye. I remained silent for a few moments, and realized that after Sniff blabbed off there was no was I could deny this.

"...Yeah, so what? I wanted Pox, and she was there-"

"I don't care about the real story, Thrax. Save it for your diary, all I want to know is what we're gonna do for this kid."Maria interrupted me, and for the first time I almost wanted to thank her. But, with the serious look on her face, she seemed like she wasn't in the mood for that kind of shit, just crossing her arms even though, when she looked at Iris, her look actually softened.

As did Osmosis's, as he rounded the other side and smiled, saying,

"Who is this girl, huh? She's kinda pretty."

"She's the strongest ITP virus left...and not just because she's the only one left."Maria said, and I saw Osmosis give her a surprised and sad look, before turning back to the kid with the same expression on his face.

"Oh...how sad."Drix muttered quietly to himself, Chief making a grunt of agreement as he and I both tried to keep up a facad of apathy. Really, I was looking hard from the woman to Iris, wondering where this was going.

"Long story short, Pox took out her entire family and she's his next goal. I'll explain the rest later, but for right now we gotta figure out what we're gonna do with this kid. We can't just throw her back out there with one of the baddest crime bosses lookin' for her."Maria mused, and part of me was relieved that at least the kid would have someone to take care of her.

The other part knew that this was far from over.

"We can do it!"

I knew it.

Osmosis smiled, perking up as he offered it, but Maria waved her hand at him.

"Jones, you don't know what she is, do you? She's an ITP virus...kills white-blood cells on contact with her hands."She reasoned...

"So what? Look, the kid's got gloves! And hey, if she's so rough-and-tumble we could use her to lure Pox out!"

"You lost your damn mind, Jones?"I asked, and he looked up at me surprised. I was a bit caught off guard myself, but kept going to try and diffuse my outburst, "You wanna get the kid killed? Not like I care either way, just don't think you need a screw-up after your 'big victory' at my expense."

"I say we wait until she wakes up to decide what we're gonna do."Chief butted in, playing peace keeper as Osmosis and I locked eyes again in a glare. "Let her rest, when the kid wakes up we discuss all our options. For now, though, I think we all need a bit of a rest. So pull up a seat, wait, and try not to kill each other."The old man ordered.

For a second, everyone was still, watching me and Jones worriedly...

I broke it first, turning and yanking over the chair, sitting down again and leaning back, trying to act like I was gonna doze off, when really I was watching Iris from under the shades. As all the others took seats in random places, I watched her, saw all those bandages on her body, and wondered if I couldn't have gotten there sooner. If this was all over yet. What the next move was with this kid. If we really decided to use her, and where that would take us.

If I knew the answers to all these questions at the time, I might not have stayed in that room until she woke up.


	6. Chapter 6

_Iris's p.o.v****_

Lights. That was the first thing that came to mind, though I woke up without the steriotypical amnesia that came with passing out. I remembered everything that had happened the moment my body decided it was safe to function again, remembered Pox, remembered Thrax, remembered the voices above me before I blacked out. And, strangely, what bothered me the most was the amount of light focused on my face. Not, did Thrax take me somewhere dangerous? Should I be safe? What happened to Pox?

No, I just wanted the lights dimmed. I scrunched up my face, trying to look away from the lights and feeling a pillow under my head, the faint sound of a chair scratching on a floor near my head. Curiously, I opened my eyes, squinting at first and seeing only blurry and faded blotches of color, reaching a hand up to rub them away... But something felt too stiff about it. I grunted and looked down, lifting my head as I opened my eyes wider, reaching my arm closer as my vision cleared.

There was a thick white bandage around my left forearm, wrapping up around my wrist and to my hand, and I immediatly got a sinking feeling.

"Morning, sunshine."I heard Thrax's familiar voice muse, and I looked over quickly, seeing him lounging back in a chair, a white room surrounding us. But my eyes only stayed on him for a moment, because all around me I instantly saw others, other people I'd never seen before, all looking at me with faces mixed with cautiousness and curiousness. I moved, pushing myself back with my elbows so that I could sit up against the wall behind me, another bandage preventing movement on my abdomen.

I looked around quickly and nervously, seeing too many Immunity cops and being around too many people for my comfort. There was Thrax next to me, and then a woman a bit farther down from him. She was pretty, dressed in an orange jacket and pants with a massive ponytail, a white-blood cell. Near her was an overweight man with a mustache and a prestigious-looking uniform on. On the other corner of my bed, the one that made me the most nervous and curl my knees up a bit, was a massive pill agent.

His chest compartement was red, with yellow arms and a pill-head, a red glove on one hand and a massive gun attatched to the other arm, floating in the air. And then something clicked, something that made me look at the man sitting on the other side of me, a man who was currently sleeping and snoring loudly. The white-blood cell with the jacket and laid back, carefree attitude. Those two, him and the pill, were the ones I saw the first night I was here in Hector.

Who would have thought we'd meet again like this? Whatever 'this' was...

"Who are you all?"I finally asked, deducing that I was in a hospital bed with bandages around my arms and ribs, two on my now-fine ankles.

"My name's Maria Amino,"The woman said in a kind, soft voice, one that actually did set me at ease a bit as I gave her a cautious look. "This is Chief of Immunity,"She continued, pointing to the large man who gave me a big, twinkly-eyes smile and a nod. "That's Drixenol, a pill agent."

"You can call me 'Drix'."The man said in a proper tone, nodding his head to me a bit. They each succeeded in calming me down a bit, despite myself feeling a sense of kindness radiating off these people, something I hadn't gotten since my parents were alive. Each didn't even exude a shred of intimidation, even though they had to know they were looking at a virus, one that had been brought here by Thrax, yet another dangerous virus.

I wanted to see something wrong with them, but for the moment they seemed harmless.

"And THAT is Osmosis Jones."The woman said angrily, upset with the sleeping cop who, after hearing his name, snapped up into a sitting position and looked around quickly,

"Huh? Wha? Who called, Maria? You need somethin' girl?"He asked in a jokingly flirtatious tone, Maria rolling her eyes and nodding her head to me, the cop looking as if he hadn't noticed and instantly lighting up.

"Oh, hey! You're up!"

"We hadn't noticed..."Thrax muttered, me looking between the two as I became more and more confused as to what had happened while I was sleeping.

"I'm Osmosis Jones, the biggest, sickest, baddest detective Immunity's ever seen! At your service, Iris."He said in a sly tone, holding out his hand for mine with a lopsided, joking smile that I looked at for just a moment, a smile not unlike the one that Ian used to have. Not a care in the world, not even when the world was against him. And then I thought back, to when I'd first seen this man and the attitude he had that I couldn't place who I'd seen it in before.

Ian. This man acted almost exactly like him, from the smooth way he talked to the nonchalant joking as he fanned his own ego. And maybe it was that that made me immediatly comftorble around this man, his astonishing resembence to my brother bringing back bittersweet memories while at the same time making it almost impossible to hate this man off the bat.

I slowly reached my hand forward and shook his, managing a small smirk.

"Hi."I said quietly, and he suddenly jerked my arm forward. I tensed for an attack, expecting all of this to suddenly be some ambush that was set up against me and this to be just the beginning of it...

Instead, what I got was a hug.

I paused, unsure of what to do as I remained still, Jones's arms wrapped tightly around me as he squeezed and exclaimed,

"C'mon girl, ain't no ordinairy handshakes here! I'm a lover, not a shaker!"

"Jones, don't break the kid."Thrax's irritated tone came out, and I took into note how he was actually here. I mean, I knew he brought me here, but with all these Immunity cops here I wouldn't expect him to stick around... And, as Osmosis let me go and made a face at Thrax, I scooted back and looked at all of them, elbows in my lap as I asked what had been on my mind since I woke up,

"Uh...not to be rude or anything, but...why are a bunch of Immunity cops sitting around me?...Did I do something?...Again?" The Chief raised his eyebrow, and I cursed myself for my choice of words, but luckily the pill came to my aid.

"We're here because we were trying to contact Thrax about Immunity buisiness, and were rather surprised to find you here."He said in a kind and very proper tone, me looking incredolously and skeptically at Thrax.

"You're...in Immunity?"I asked, not believing it for one nanosecond, finding it hard to place Thrax in cop threads with a badge and everything. In fact I tried, and almost cringed inside. Thrax seemed to agree, because the second I asked he leaned back in his chair and threw his head back, laughing so hard that he had to wrap an arm around his stomach.

I'd never really heard him laugh before, never really having a reason to, but now it seemed...almost real. If that made any sense, and even as I thought it it sounded odd. But that was the best way to describe it, something so odd coming from Thrax. His laughter was a side of him that fit perfectly with who he was, a deep and rich laugh, but not something I ever expected to hear. It was...nice.

He leaned forward after regaining control of himself and fixed his shades, pointing to me with the claw that no longer scared me, not after what I'd gone through with Pox. Right now, nothing could scare me, and I just wanted to sort this situation out. Because, the sooner things got figured out, that's exactly what I would be. Out. And fast.

"Baby, can you honestly see me workin' for a bunch of 'Hector's Finest'?"He said the title with vindication and sarcasm, me surpressing the smirk that tried to fource its way onto my face in order to seem indifferent to both sides, because that's what this felt like.

"Oh really? Then why you helpin' us catch our guy, huh?"The woman asked in a hispanic accent, me looking over to see her smirking victoriously and crossing her arms. To my surprise, Thrax seemed to lose his cool around her, glaring and seething as he had no comeback and instead just stood up, leaning his back against the wall and muttering,

"Don't mean I like it. Just wanna catch that fucka' before he messes up my rep any worse than he already has." I looked curiously around, no one paying attention to me as they all either glared at Thrax or whispered to each other. Finally, I had to ask,

"Who are we talking about? Can someone please explain this to me?" They all suddenly snapped to, as if just realizing I was there.

"Oh, yeah girl,"Maria said, crossing her legs and explaining in a calm, kind tone, "Your friend Thrax here is helpin' us with a virus we can't seem to catch. When we got here we saw you, and he explained what happened to us." At this she stood up, and surprisingly I didn't feel any defensiveness as she walked towards me and sat half-on the bed, her deep brown eyes and soft smile so sincere and something I hadn't seen in so long that, instantly, I felt a strange tug and warmth in my chest.

"And we were discussing it...and we think you might be able to help us track down this virus. If you agree, that is, we're not gonna fource anything on you."She explained, and I fought through my haze of sudden trust, looking a bit suspiciously up at her and asking, a dense feeling in my chest that I knew where this was going,

"...What virus? Why could I help with anything?" Maria seemed to pause for a second, expecting this and yet without a way to say the words. She looked around for help for a second, but when everyone took a sudden interest in the floor tiles(even Thrax), she sighed and looked back at me with a resigned and serious face.

"We need your help to catch the man who did this to you. The same man that both you and Thrax have every right to want to punish."She said it without saying it, and I immediatly dropped my jaw a bit and looked at each of them, wide-eyed. They wanted me to...

"Wasn't my idea, kiddo."Thrax muttered, looking away with his arms crossed, him knowing exactly what my answer was going to be, though I didn't know how much this woman knew about me and Pox or how much she'd told Thrax. I felt it was enough, enough to know that I'd never in a thousand years, in millions of lifetimes, ever actually confront Pox on purpose. She was insain to think that total strangers in a body that's given me nothing but trouble would convince me to go against everything I held solid and firm in my mind.

"...You're insain. I'm not...no!"I shook my head, Maria taking in a breath, as if she expected the same answer and yet had held out a ridiculous hope that I'd yes to running right into the arms of the man who just broke both my ankles.

"Aw, c'mon!"I heard Osmosis say in a pouty voice, and I looked incredolously over at him, seeing the white-blood cell holding out his arms, "We need you girl! Who else knows more about this mother' than you? You can finally get this big, bad jerk! Now I don't know the story behind you two, but I can say that not only will you be gettin' even with him, but you sure are a better sight than old red-face over there."

I heard Thrax growl a bit behind me, but even Osmosis and his calm, laid-back attitude couldn't make me any less uncomftorble than I was right then, surrounded by Immunity, asking me to stand up against a man that I'd heard kill my entire family. A man I'd been running from for twelve years. And they expected me to stop after what just happened? I didn't care how friendly and kind they were, didn't care that they overlooked how I was a deadly virus. This was too far.

"I'm not doing it."I said firmly, a lock of hair falling into my eyes as I did.

"Now, Iris, I understand your position, but if you do this you'll be able to stay in Hector with full protection, nothing will happen to you."Drix tried, but I kept shaking my head, beginning to look for exits, needing to just get out and get these bandages off. I was an ITP virus, and we healed faster than any other. My bruises and broken bones were healed, and there people were unknowingly picking at the only wound that hadn't closed.

"No."I said again, clenching my hands around my knees. Pox. His face. His touch. His words. Here, close by. Every instinct screaming to leave, to make them stop, to get out of here.

"I don't understand, if you can get him then why don't you just-"

"He killed my family!"I snapped, and everyone in the room visibly flinched back, as if I'd struck out at them. Chief, who I'd interrupted, looked like he was about to faint, holding onto the short bars on the bottom of the bed that barely supported his weight. I was surprised at myself, at what I said, but didn't regret it. They were finally quiet, and that's all I needed.

Each of them was silent, me barely able to look at Osmosis, his face surprisingly...tragic. As if he genuinly felt pain at my confession, as if he really did care. And that suddenly made me feel guilty, because these people...they did care. They were the kindest people I'd met in a long, long time, and when I tried to put myself in their shoes, they were only trying to rid this small, innocent boy of a virus that would, if given the chance, kill him.

And I'd just blown up at them. Great people skills, Iris.

"...Okay, you don't have to."Maria's voice was a soft whisper, and her gentle fingers over mine sent a tingle up my arm, making me look shyly and guiltily up at her. There was a sympathetic smile on her face, but a bit of dissapointment in her eyes. And it hurt, and once again I found myself growing far too attatched to people I'd met for not even ten minutes. It was something that had never happened before, and it was either me changing, or just a spectacularly unique group of people.

Maria moved back and stood, her attitude towards the other immediatly changing as she snapped,

"Alright! Leave the kid alone, poor thing's gotta recover! And yes, that includes you Jones. Don't want the girl filing a complaint against us because of your behavior." Osmosis shrugged a joking, light-hearted shrug and then turned to me, giving me that lopsided grin again. Not a care in the world...

"Nice meetin' ya, Iris. Hope you stick around for awhile, I know this nice place behind the eye-"

"NOW JONES!"Maria snapped, suddenly beside him and yanking him out of the room by his ear, Chief nodding to me seriously before following them. Drix floated to the doorway and then paused, looking over his shoulder suspiciously at Thrax, who hadn't made any move to leave.

"You coming, Thrax?"He asked, and Thrax answered by staying still and solitary. And, strangely, I was glad that he was staying. Something about hospitals made me uneasy, and I didn't want to be in this big, empty room all alone, not with Pox out there. Drix shrugged and said to me with a kind smile,

"Feel better, Iris." Then he turned and left, getting out of earshot before Thrax said,

"Sneeze, Sniff, beat it." For a second, I didn't know what he meant. And then I looked towards where I saw movement, and saw two germs huddled in the corner, so far away that I hadn't seen them in all the chaos. One was short and chubby, the other taller and lanky, both looking a bit nerdish and clumsy as they tackled over each other, saying in stuffed-up voices,

"Y-yeah boss! You got it!"

"Who are you?"I asked, and they froze in their tracks, looking up at me with big, surprised eyes, before awkwardly straightening up to introduce themselves.

"I'm Sniff!"

"I'm Sneeze!" They excliamed, and then paused, looking at eachother and correcting,

"No, I'm Sniff and he's Sneeze!" I leaned back a bit and gave a half-hearted smirk, simply because I found it highly amusing that germs like that worked for Thrax.

"Nice to meet you."I said, and their eyes grew wide as saucers, as if no one had ever been that nice to them before. And then I remembered that Thrax was their boss, and guessed that no one really had ever been. They instantly bummbled words that didn't make sense, waving and chattering as they trambled over each other to get to the door, finally exiting and hopping happily and cutely.

They were the only things that actually lightened my mood a bit.

"They're idiots."

"They're cute. I like them."I contradicted Thrax, sitting back as the room went quiet, me pausing for a second and then asking, "Are you going to try to convince me to help them?"

"If you don' wanna, I don't see a reason to."He mused cooly, me looking up at him slightly and seeing his shades on, arms crossed and looking calmly at the wall in front of him. He was expecting something, but what I couldn't tell. I couldn't read this man, not one bit, and eventually it was going to get frustrating. Now, though, I felt like putting up with it, having a few questions left anyway.

"Why do you hate Pox?"I asked, and he cracked his neck before answering bitterly,

"The scum's been snatchin' up the bodies I kill, takin' credit for my work. As if my rap wasn't bad enough."

"What do you mean by that?"I asked, sitting cross-legged and confirming the heal of my ankles.

"Jones,"Thrax explained, pointing the claw lazily at the door, "He got lucky a few years back and crushed me when I was gonna make my biggest score ever. Take down a body, 48 hours, and I was this damned close. But I underestimated the pain in my ass...once."I could hear the narrowed eyes in his voice, the threat that was directed towards the man who was already gone, the man who reminded me so painfully much of Ian...

And then a terrible, horrible, awful thought came to my mind. I tried to shove it down, to kill it, but it just wouldn't, demanding me to think it over, to eventually come to an obvious conclusion that I'd been avoiding like the plague...or Small Pox.

Ian died so that I could live. He gave me the ultimate sacrifice...but I never thought that he knew what our father had planned for me. I certainly hadn't known, and his words came as a surprise in a timespan too short to think it over... And I always wondered, was this what Ian wanted from me? Was this why he died? While he was laid back and the most light-hearted person I knew, someone who acted like life had dealt them the best card he could have asked for, he never let anyone push him around.

One time there was this man in a grocery store, he saw Ian and demanded to the entire place why a Virus was allowed to shop there, to thrive there, when he would end up killing everyone their city eventually. Ian contradicted the man by telling him that he was harmless, and instead of just letting it off with a scoff like most, the man had shoved him into a crate of protein. I'd been with Ian that day, but hid behind the tall shelf and watched as, in a movement so elegant and fluid that it was truly beautiful, Ian leaped on the man and spun him around, pinning him belly-first to the floor and holding his hand behind his back.

He leaned down, the pure-white bun of hair loosened and messy, and said something to the man.

_'Remember the day that you attacked a virus first, and he let you live. That's the kind of world I live in. And maybe someday we can take out the first part altogether, buddy.'_

I was five at the time, and thought that it was amazing how my normally-passive brother had actually stood up for himself. That was the day I realized that being calm and letting people walk all over you were two different things... But what was I doing now? If Ian could see, what would he think of me running for twelve years to get away from someone? Avoiding any and all contact with other and denying myself of the life he wanted for me? The life he died to give me?

My father told me to never stop. And it only dawned on me now that he never said 'never stop running'. He just told me not to stop. I'd never know now what he meant, wether it be running or...or something else. Because he was dead. So was Mom, so was Ian. They died to give me a second chance...and if these people reminded me so much of them, if they were giving me this opportunity to end what had made me into a coward...

Then maybe my second chance wasn't just living. Maybe it was living knowing I'd stopped the one thing that threatened the world I wanted to live in. And it took four Immunity cops, two broken ankles, and one virus to make me realize this. Maybe not realize this, because maybe this wasn't what my father wanted...

...But was it what I wanted? That was something I'd never thought about before, what I wanted. My father wanted me to do one thing. Ian another. Pox another. These people another. But what did I want?...

"Ya know,"Thrax said, breaking me from my thoughts, "With all this runnin' ya do...you need to take a breather once in awhile."

Breather. Take a breather.

"Yo, Thrax, get your red ass outta here! The girl needs to-"

"I'll do it."I said it so fast, cutting right into Maria's sentence as she leaned into the door, that I felt the need to restate it. Not just to her, but to me. "I'll do it...I'll help you."I said, Maria looking awestruck from me to Thrax, and then a massive smile breaking onto her face, lighting it up and making her eyes crinkle. Just like my mother's...

"Alright! That's it chika! I'll go tell the others, you rest a little while longer okay? Thrax, out!"She said, and I interrupted her again,

"Um, can he stay?" I felt both their eyes on me, and I tried to surpress my blush of embarrasement, hearing how that sounded and instantly correcting myself, "I mean...with Pox out there...I don't know, I'd feel better if someone was...ya know..." Maria's eyes flickered from me to Thrax, and for one second something flashed in them, so fast I couldn't tell what it was. Then it settled into an indifferent smile as she shrugged.

"Whatever you want, kiddo. We'll be back tomorrow, you slept the entire day. Get a night's rest, and then we'll discuss the little details tomorrow."She explained and I nodded, feeling like I'd just thrown myself into something that was both exciting and dangerous at the same time. In half an hour, I'd changed everything I'd ever known.

All because of this group of misfits.

"Oh, and Iris,"Maria said, looking over her shoulder as she exited, "It's good to have you on the team, sweetie."She gave me a wink, and then walked away, the door shutting behind her.

"..."

"Don't take credit for this."I mused, turning and laying down, back facing Thrax as I settled in, exauhsted despite my day-long rest.

"Imma take a little. Now sleep, you little brat."He said with his usual sarcasm and wit...but this time something about it was...almost relieved. Happy maybe.

"Jackass."I muttered, closing my heavy eyes.

"Works for me, baby."

_Thrax's p.o.v****_

I shouldn't be this damn relieved, like I had somethin' to look forward to, like everything inside my chest weighed nothing. I shouldn't be happy, I shouldn't be wantin' to smile or any of that sentimental shit. And I told myself again and again that I didn't, that nothin' about her workin' with me had anything to do with how I felt.

But, as I looked over and saw her sleeping on her side, breathing slow and rhythmically, her skin almost paler than the white sheets, I let myself admit to one thing. I reached over, using the claw to pick up the edge of the sheets and pull them more over her, to her shoulder. Just one thing, that's it.

This is gonna be a hell of an interesting ride.


	7. Chapter 7

_Iris's p.o.v****_

"Does that hurt?"

"No."I said, though I didn't think the doctor believed me with how I cringed everytime he gently pressed my ankle, arm, or ribs. It wasn't that those spots were sore or still injured, quite the oppisit actually. Everything had healed perfectly, not one ounce of pain in any place. It was just that...somewhere inside me, despite recent dramatic events, I still found it hard to trust even my doctor.

"I find it incredible that you've healed from wounds in one day that would take most ten days, at least. And that's just the internal bleeding, your ankles should have taken weeks to set."He mused skeptically, and I shrugged, not saying anything other than answers to direct questions. Finally, the man gave up and gave me a clean bill of health, all bandages removed and feeling like I could move freely again, relieved that I'd be out of this place.

I was upset that they'd woken me up not five minutes after I fell asleep, still feeling like I needed the rest and my eyes dry and heavy. Maria called, Thrax guessed, and wanted to get me to safety and a less obvious place as soon as possible, getting me out of Pox's grasp. That was the only reason I wasn't arguing, though I didn't quite know where they expected me to go. It wasn't like I knew anyone here, and the Immunity headquarters was way too obvious.

"Here they come."Thrax mused, sarcastically happy as he rolled his eyes, placing his shades back on.

"Why do you wear those inside?"I asked, feeling particularly braver around him now than I had been before, as if saving my life twice had brought us closer together. Who knew?

"You're too damn pale, make me go damn near blind when I look at you."He mocked back, and it was my turn to roll my eyes, turning to the side and sliding off the bed, standing and streaching in relish just as the others stormed into the room. And when I say stormed, I meant only Ozzy, who upon seeing me instantly pulled me into a hug so massive that it lifted me off my feet and almost bruiesed my ribs again.

"That's my girl! I knew you'd come around! Can't resist that Jones charm, can ya?"He asked, setting me down and slicking his hair back with his hand, Maria smacking him on the back of the head and making the hair snap back into place. As he pouted and glared at her, Maria smiled at me and said,

"You ready to go? Chief's itchin' to get back home, it's almost midnight now." I hadn't been told the time, and so it came as a shock to me that I'd slept almost two straight days, and no wonder that I was still exauhsted now. I nodded eagerly, but then paused, awkwardly scratching my arm. I didn't quite know how to ask it, the words coming out shy and embarrased,

"Um...but...where am I gonna go? I mean, I don't think I can go back to that apartement, with Pox knowing where it is and everything..."I trailed off, feeling uncomftorble asking them for a favor, especially one as big as a place to stay during this whole thing. I'd been used to doing everything for myself, fending for myself, without anyone offering any help, let alone people I'd known for an accumulation of one hour.

"Oh! Oh! Oh! We'll take her! Please?!"Osmosis asked, jumping up and down like a little kid and making me smile despite my increasingly uncomftorble feelings, Maria rolling her eyes and smacking Jones in the stomach to calm him down.

"We'd love to have her stay with us until she found a permenant lodging."Drix added politely, turning to me with raised eyebrows and a smile. I awkwardly held my arm, smiling back up at him without reply, not knowning how I should act in this situation. Again, Maria came to my aid, turning towards the two and saying,

"The last people I'd put her with are you two! You damn near burnt the whole damn apartement complex down two days ago!"

"It was Drix!"Osmosis defended, the pill gaping and crossing his arms.

"It most certainly was not! Jones was one who decided to leave the oven on while he drug me on 'important buisiness'!"

"It was!"

"You wanted a donut!"

"And man, to my appetite that was im-por-tant!"Jones danced as he said it, and Maria looked like she was about to hit him again, when a voice interrupted everyone,

"She's stayin' with me." I turned, looking surprised up at Thrax who had his hands shoved into the pockets of his long trench coat and an indifferent frown on his face, everyone looking at him surprised and confused. Stay with Thrax? He was a virus, a very very bad virus, who was not only dangerous but also...so very, very confusing. He saved me, he acted like he didn't like me, and then he gave me this feeling of safety that was so completely irrational, much like everything I did around him.

To live with him for who-knows-how-long?...I really shouldn't like that as much as I did. Something inside me was relieved that it was with him that I was apparently staying, the look on his face accepting no arguments, relieved that I'd stay with someone I felt safe around and at the same time terrified because the thought brought a nervousness in the pit of my stomach, as if I were expecting something big to happen, something I couldn't imagine at this point. Honestly, didn't want to. This man was so unpredictable that I couldn't tell what was going to happen next.

"And why should we let you-"

"You want her to live?"Thrax interrupted Osmosis, "I didn't see none a y'all takin' on those giant thugs Pox's got wrapped around his finger. Only Iris and I have ever been able to take any of 'em down, so the way I see it is that if anythin' happens to her, I've got things covered, baby. Unless you gotta better idea?"

"Pox'll expect her to be with you! You saved her-"

"And he'll expect her to be will all of you, too. Face it: She ain't safe anywhere, and she knows that. The damn kid's lived her whole life knowin' that, so don't try to convince her you can do anything for her. With me, at least we'll have a chance."Thrax's words shut everyone up, even I didn't do anything to scold him for talking like I wasn't there, because...he actually got it.

And maybe that was one of the reasons I was okay with going with him. Out of all of these kind, caring people, he understood the gritty truth the best. And maybe, just a bit, he understood me.

"Well if that's all done, I'll be on my cell. But if you call me before ten, I'm gonna shove your phone down your throat."Thrax said nonchalantly, moving through the crowd of cops like water, everyone parting for him as I quickly followed, watching as he swayed his shoulders a bit, confident. Defiant.

"Oh, right...thank you. All of you."I said before I walked out, standing in the doorway and smiling at all of them, shyly as they all turned, Osmosis grinning the broadest. And for a second, I looked at all of them standing there, smiling, happy, unaware...and I thought of a family portriate. And for a second, everything didn't seem so scary, so dark...so lonely.

And maybe this whole thing didn't seem like a mistake.

"C'mon, sap."Thrax mused, tapping the back of my head with his claw. I turned and made a face at him, but he couldn't see, me hurrying to catch up to him as we headed down the hospital hallways in silence. Part of me, the part that refused to trust anyone or anything, was telling me that this could end very, very badly, and I looked like that idiot damsel in distress who trusts the bad guy way too much and ends up needing saving.

The other part of me, the part that didn't really exist until I'd met Thrax, told me to relax. Because, against all odds and rational thought...he wasn't going to hurt me. I just knew it.

_Third Person p.o.v****_

"Well, that was odd."Maria Amino mused, looking skeptically after the two viruses as they left together.

"Hmm,"Osmosis Jones hummed, scratching his chin and narrowing his eyes in thought, his partner looking down at him curiously and asking,

"What do you think, Jones? I mean...I've never seen Thrax act like that towards another. It's quite a conundrum that he's here in the first place, saving the girl that he wanted information on, right Maria? If she was his target, then why save her from Pox and offer to let her stay with him, unless it's a trap?"

"No no, my Ozzy-senses are tingling."Osmosis said, having spent more time with the red virus than anyone, with a closer connection to him. From what he remembered, Thrax flew solo spare a few pawns he would use as decoys to later get killed, and he'd sacrifice any and everything to achieve his own personal goal.

So what he had going with this girl was something...different. Thrax was hiding something, deep down inside, the cop could feel it. With how...almost protective he acted around the girl, how he chose to sit closest to her, how he looked at her, just his whole air about him when he was near her...it was weird. To see Thrax like that was not something anyone would ever think of, let alone want to see.

And the thought that the cop kept to himself as the others moved onto differents subject, barely noticing the sudden lull in talking that was so uncommon to Osmosis, was one that both excited and disturbed him. It was impossible, he thought to himself. This was Thrax, serial-killer, crime-boss-genius, cold-blooded narcicist, evil, all-around bad dude. But there was no denying how he acted, what he did...

Then the cop thought of that girl. Completely white, from her hair to her skin to her clothes, with those stormy, light-grey eyes and the both defensive and beautiful look she always had on her face. Despite what she'd been through, despite being one hell of a trooper, despite one of the saddest backstories Osmosis had heard in a long, long time, he couldn't deny the one thing about the girl that made her unique. Made her something else.

Defiance. A look of defiance, against Pox, against steriotypes, against her life, against all odds. Something about her refused to be broken, wouldn't be crushed, some sort of fire inside of her that wasn't going to be extinguished any time soon. To still be standing after that, to still be willing to fight, to be defiant against everything...

And suddenly the thought didn't seem so impossible afterall.

_Iris's p.o.v****_

It was huge. For just an apartement, it looked like an entire one-story house, at least compared to what I had been living in. I just stood in front of the now-closed door, looking around in awe and nervousness, afraid to really touch anything. It was such a stark contrast to everything I'd ever been in, anything I'd ever seen, that I had to stand and take it all in for a moment.

The color scheme was black and red, the walls a slightly deep red with a black-wood floor. The first room you walked into was the bedroom, which might be conveniant if you just wanted to crash the second you got home. A massive bed against the right wall, the headboard on the wall and the foot pointing towards the room to what looked like a kitchen/living room, also red-and-black. The bed had black covers and red posts, everything shiny and clean, not one thing broken or scattered, no matresses on the floor or holes in the ceiling.

I could get used to this, if I'd ever allow myself to.

"You gonna come in or just stand there?"Thrax threw back nonchalantly, shrugging off his jacket and throwing it on the foot of the bed, cracking his neck and revealing a grey turtle neck underneath that was a bit tight, me trying not to notice as I moved slowly into the room, looking around more. There was a black dresser against the wall before the kitchen door, a hook before the far wall that held something black, looking like a necklace with a few purple pulses of color along it.

Curiously, I walked up to it and ran a finger along it, looking closer and still unable to figure out what it was, or why it would get a hook.

"Thrax?"I called back, combing my hair back with my hand.

"Hm? What's up, kid?"He answered back, and I ran a finger along the pulsating black necklace again.

"What's this?"I asked, and there was a small pause.

Before I knew it, he was behind me, reaching his arms on either side of me and lifting the necklace off the hook with his claw, me barely noticing how his arms were almost around me as he held it straight in front of me until I felt his heat on my back. And when I said heat, I meant that a warmth radiated off of him, almost like a heater and if I got any closer I'd get burned, heating the skin on my arms, back, neck, and face.

At least that's what I attributed the blush to that thrummed warmly across my face, feeling him above me as both hands pulled the necklace tight, an almost metallic clinking sound coming from it that I didn't expect. Something flipped in my stomach, but I chose to shove it down to just not being used to people this close to me, focusing instead on what he was saying in a surprisingly...not kind, I couldn't attribute that word to Thrax...

But calm, happy almost.

"This here's my chain. Not my original one, Jones trashed that when he thought he was a big man for knocking me down. But this is just as good, if not better. See those little purple things?"He asked, almost like a teacher to a student, me nodding and watching as he pinched part of it, a purple bead bulging under the black surface.

"This is a DNA bead, see? I snatch this baby from a body's Hypothalimus Gland, burns them up in less than two hours."He explained, sounding almost proud as he explained it.

"Hypo-what?"I asked, and Thrax chuckled, the sound deep and resonating in his chest, something inside my own chest lightening at the sound.

"Hypo-thali-mus. The one thing that my life revolves around, and no one can pronounce the shit."He mused, moving and placing the chain back up on the hook, the beads of dead bodies hanging there barely disturbing me the way they should have. "C'mon, let's get some shut-eye kid. I ain't gonna be runnin' on less than eight hours of sleep if I gotta deal with Jones's shit tomorrow."

I raised an eyebrow and asked, still looking at the chain,

"Wait, where are we sleeping?"

"The bed?" And there goes the stomach flop, and this time I knew the exact reason, I just refused to think about it.

"But...um...wait..."I stumbled over my words, barely concealing the sudden nervousness in my voice, unable to even utter a sentence as the blush found its way to my ears, stiff. I heard Thrax laugh again, mockingly and making me at least have something to be angry at, to ease the awkwardness a bit, as he said,

"What, you nerovous baby?"

I spun around to shout that no, I was not, when the words caught in my throat. The blush was now hot on my face, searing as my eyes went wide and my stomach and heart decided to switch places, unable to respond now. Thrax had discarded the grey turtleneck, and now stood in just baggy grey pants, a bare, red-colored upper body now very much in my face. And I knew I should have stopped looking, tried to at least have some sense of awkwardness, but all I could do was look surprised and off-guard at the very-toned, muscular upper body before me.

And Thrax knew damn well how to mess with me, because I could still see in the upper corner of my eye how he was smiling mischeviously, shades off and eyes glinting in some sort of victory, as if he got one-up on me.

"N-n-no."I stuttered out finally, sounding weak and pathetic, especially with me still trying to tear my eyes off him.

"Really?"He asked quietly and with slight roll. Suddenly, I was shoved against the wall, one hand pressed on the side of my hip and Thrax's body just inches from mine, the warmth still radiating off of him, the muscles more defined now that they were closer, my eyes finally breaking from it and up to his face, heart pounding painfully hard in my chest.

Thrax's claw hand was placed flat against the wall right next to my head, his face leaning down towards mine with a dread falling into his face, his eyes narrowed and mischevious, as was his smile that let me know that, yes, he was totally messing with me and damn-good at it, because I couldn't find words nor actions anymore. It was as if my body and mind had seperated for the time being, body now flushed and heart pounding fast, stomach fluttering and flopping as I gazed up at Thrax, feeling his hand against my hip.

I'd never been this close to another person in my life, unless it was hugging Ian or my parents. But this was much, much different than that, a shiver running up the back of my neck as I tried to surpress thoughts, thoughts I shouldn't have and refuest to acknowledge I had, focusing just on how to get out of this.

"You look pretty nervous to me, baby."He teased low, and the mocking tone gave me enough courage to speak, knowing I shouldn't be reacting this way, around Thrax no less,

"That's because a shirtless man twice my size wont let me move."I retorted, and finally he chuckled, trailing the claw along my jaw, a tingling in its wake, and lifting my chin up a bit.

"You can move, baby."He winked, and I found the courage to roll my eyes.

"You first."I teased, and finally he shrugged and stepped back, me letting out a breath I hadn't known I was holding, trying to tell myself that my body's reaction was something, anything other than what it appeared to be. Any girl with a large, shirtless, ripped man in front of them would have acted the same way, I'd seen it before...of course, those girls were attracted to those men and/or already their significant others.

I inwardly shook my head as Thrax turned and walked to the bed, cursing myself as I gazed at his equally muscular back, snapping a look away as he flopped onto the bed and pulled the covers over himself, rolling on his side and muttering,

"Bed's open, Maria'd kill me if I made ya sleep on a couch or some shit. Come in when you feel like it, just don' wake me up." I watched for a second until I knew he'd gone to sleep, rather fast, remembering that he'd probably been awake even when I was sleeping and that he probably needed a rest more than I did.

Besides, at the moment I was wide awake, and needed some fresh air. I turned and walked through the open door to the kitchen, seperated halfway into a living room with a couch and two chairs, a small coffee table, and on the far wall a balcony. I breathed out a sigh of relief and walked towards it, pushing away the red curtains and sliding open the glass door, walking out into the cool night air and leaning against the railing and looking out into the city, lights glinting in the night, something so beautiful that I rarely got to see.

I sighed and combed my hair back with my fingers, just thinking about what had changed in me. I'd chosen a life I swore never to, a life that before I'd have scoffed at. So what had changed now? What was so different?

And then I thought of that family-portriate-esque group back in the hospital. And it was crazy, but everything had been so crazy lately that it seemed normal now, that maybe these people were going to mean more to me. Like when you see someone for the first time and think, 'this person is going to change my life', or at least that they'll impact it in someway, a person or a group of people who have that foretelling effect. And that was these guys.

Ozzy, his smile and attitude like Ian. Drix, his proper and caring demeanor, just like Dad. Maria, strong and gentle, like Mom. Chief, old and gruff, like I'd imagined my grandfather to be. I'd failed my last family...could I repay by saving this one?...And then there was Thrax. Thrax reminded me of no one I'd ever met, making me feel and act in ways I'd never even thought of. Thrax, who saved me and messed with my head and was just one bundle of mystery.

Thrax didn't fit into my past. But, like the others, I had a feeling he'd fit into my future.

I spent what felt like two hours out on the balcony, until I felt a presence behind me.

"You only sleep durin' the day, baby?"Thrax asked, trying to sound grumpy when I could tell he was curious, walking up next to me and leaning on the railing, taking every ounce of strength I had to not look at his still-bare upper body.

"You ever wear a shirt?"I retorted right back. He chuckled again, and I realized that I was growing to like the sound more and more.

"You don't think it's dangerous to be out with Pox scouring the city for ya?"Thrax asked, and I shrugged, looking calmly out into the city as I asked nonchalantly,

"How do you know he's looking for me?" There was a pause, almost an embarrased one, before Thrax admitted,

"Maria told me all 'bout you. What happened to...ya know."He mummbled, and I avoided the subject about how I came up in a conversation, at this point it being irrelevant and probably something Thrax didn't want to share. I could relate, and he'd done the same for me back when he was bartering my glove for information. Come to think of it, that was probably right before him and Maria talked about my past, and part of me knew he knew about what happened.

And part of me was slightly self-concious about it. The other was curious to what he thought about it.

"I'm not afraid. Not anymore, at least, now that I've taken a lapse from running."I mused, a breeze cooling the remainder of the blush off my face, chest still fluttering in a funny way.

"Why do you run so much, hm?"Thrax asked suddenly, and I realized that we were having an actual heart-to-heart, calm, in-depth conversation without anything on the line...and I was answering truthfully. Had I really grown to trust him that much?...

"You never once thought about stopping?"He finished, and I let a bitter half-smile fall onto my face, shaking my head and sighing,

"When you're like me, stopping isn't an option. I stop, I get hurt. As we both learned."

"You never tried to get help?"

"You saw how people react to viruses around here. Help wasn't an option, either. Running was all that was safe to me, I guess."I explained, this time smiling because of a memory, because of words running through my mind, "That's a world that my father wanted: where viruses didn't have their future planned out for them. Where we could be whatever we wanted, not just killing machines."

"Your dad was crazy."

"Yeah."I said it with a smile, and felt Thrax's look on me, but didn't care. It was true, my father's dream was ridiculous in every sense of the word. It was impossible to think of. But he wasn't too big on thinking, more on acting and making others think accordingly. So yes, he might have been insain, but people tended to follow insain people.

I yawned suddenly, not realizing how extremely exauhsted I was until now.

"Told ya. C'mon, I wont bite, promise."Thrax teased lightly, and I looked over at him, smiling and finding it a bit easier to look at him and not his skin, though not much easier. And, strangely...I found it easy to follow him back through the balcony door, sliding it shut behind us, through the kitchen door, and back to the bed. Part of me still had this odd feeling that I couldn't place when Thrax laid down under the covers, placing his hands behind his head and closing his eyes.

I moved around, pausing and unlacing my boots, finally managing to slide them off and climb into the covers, moving timidly and slowly as if I'd do something wrong. But, the second I laid down, far onto my side and trying to minimize that pounding in my chest, my entire body relaxed.

The lights were off, the covers were soft and warm, from their natural warmth or Thrax's added heat I couldn't tell, and the matress wasn't beat up or dirty. It was soft, comforting, and I felt like I hadn't slept in years, everything that had happened seeming to fade away into the darkness. I turned onto my side, away from Thrax, and placed a hand under the pillow.

I closed my eyes, and for the first time I actually slipped into a sleep feeling calm. Feeling free. Feeling safe. Feeling warm.

I fell asleep long before a pair of eyes fell on me from the other side of the bed, unable to see the emotions flash across them before the head turned back towards the ceiling, a smile playing on the red man's lips. Sleeping, regardless of what was going to happen to us in the future, regardless of what I was throwing myself into. Right now, none of that mattered. What mattered was sleep, and the warm body near me. Whether I knew it or not.


	8. Chapter 8

_-I wanted to take a second to achknowledge what's happening in Massachusetts, and being from there myself with all my family up there I want to say that for everyone not just in the FF community but also everone affected that we all support you. I literally just learned that they have caught the second man at 6:30pm, April 19th. Other than that, I hope you all enjoy the story-_

_Thrax's p.o.v****_

A small noise woke me up, almost instantly like I'd been listening for it in my sleep. To be honest, I was on-edge from the second we'd exited the hospital, knowing Pox too damn well to think that he wasn't already out lookin' for Iris, or that he hadn't already guessed where she was staying. I'd given the others no choice in the matter of her being with me, wether because I didn't trust their mediocre protection or I just wanted to know where and how she was at all times, or maybe a bit of both. I wasn't sure, all I knew was that now I was wide-awake, listening for more sounds...

And when I heard another, I was almost more tense than when I'd woken up. Not because it was an intruder or anything, but because it was coming from the small girl currenly pressed to my chest, her hair played out on the pillow behind her and face buried into my chest, just below my neck. I stiffened, eyes wide as I saw my own arm betraying me and wrapped around her tightly, her hand lightly on the crook of my elbow. I felt her light breath on my chest, chilling one spot on the normally-hot skin in a tingling sensation, one that I wouldn't admit I didn't completely hate.

I paused, no sure what to do in a situation like this, just knowing that this level of contact with someone wasn't what I liked, at least not in this sense. In the situations where I was using one of the more impressionable girls at a club or bar to get to their 'clients', or when I messed with Iris yesterday, those things were just fake, a display that usually the bait took and I wrapped them around my little finger.

Don't know why I tried it with Iris, and don't know why something in my gut and chest seemed to act differently, a sick-like feeling that didn't feel like anything I'd ever experienced, when I saw that blush redden her normally-pale face. But whatever the reason, she just solidified what made her so different from anyone I'd ever met, from every damn virus and female thriving in and out of bodies and cities. Because for the first time, my target didn't quite act how I expected them to.

She was nervous, surprised, and heat came off her flushed face, but once she'd recovered in mere seconds it was almost as if she were the one playing with me. She was still witty, still sharp, and still defiant, that fire in her eyes not faultering like her speech. Which was fine with me, I wasn't interested in anything like what it normally led to with others with Iris...

I mean, the kid was just...she was...she wasn't like most girls. Was that good enough reason? I wasn't sure myself, and maybe there was more to it. Maybe it was her being so different from everyone that made me almost cautious, not knowing what made this kid so interesting, what drew me to her. And maybe there was something more lying in that, but what I focused on now was what was lying uncomftorbly close to me.

Messin' around I could do, it was fake and meaningless. Intimate shit like this? No. Thrax don't do cuddling.

Slowly and awkwardly I managed to push myself up with my free arm, moving slightly and begging that she didn't wake up, pushing myself back to my side of the suddenly-small-feeling bed, eyes wide and telling myself to just forget about that little incident. That sound happened again, and I realized it was just Iris muttering something quietly in her sleep, curling up a bit more as a lock of white hair fell in her face like it always did.

I took this as a sign to get up, and threw the covers off, making my way around the room and pulling on a grey shirt and the jacket again, just buttoning one of the buttons when I heard a shifting in the bed behind me. I looked over my shoulder, raising an eyebrow as Iris stirred, her eyes fluttering open and instantly streaching, a surprisingly normal movement that looked almost too innocent for her, her entire sleep-ridden frame looking a bit childish as she woke up.

Her fingers laced through her hair and brushed it back from her face, slowly pushing the covers down and catching a glimps of a pale stomach before she fixed the tank top and sat up, rubbing her face tiredly.

"'Mornin', Sunshine."I mused out, and she looked up at me sleepily, a look that almost caught me off-guard. Almost like her normal self hadn't woken up yet, and this was a...a raw form of her. A sleepy, trusting, innocent look without the normal defensiveness or defiance, a completely trusting look before the old one shook itself awake.

And for a second, I could almost see the girl she was before all this shit happened to her. The one who still had her entire future to fight for. The one before her family was killed. Before she had to run. Before Pox. And something in my chest twisted, and I had to look away before she really woke up and made some quick remark about me staring at her.

"What time is it?"She mummbled out, and I looked at the cell on the end of the bed, reaching down and flipping it open. The screen popped up, and I groaned inwardly.

"Damn Jones called me four goddamned times."I grumbled, hearing Iris get out of the bed as I pressed a button and begrudgingly held the phone to my ear, waiting to hear the pissed-off Jones on the other end. Three rings later, that's exactly what I got,

"Yo, thanks for finally callin' back!"He shouted, and I rolled my eyes, seeing Iris pause in tying her second boot to look up curiously, that old look back in her eyes, and yet that twisting not done in my chest yet. I turned back to the phone and said,

"I told ya not to call me until after 10."

"IT'S TWELVE!" I raised an eyebrow and looked up to the clock on the wall.

"Huh. Look at that."

"Don't you 'huh look at that' me you giant red mother-"

"THRAX!"I flinched, holding the phone away from me as the shrill hispanic accent screamed foreign obsceneties from the phone that, from the sound of it, probably weren't even appropriate for _me. _Iris was by my side suddenly, looking from the still-screaming phone held safely away from my hand to me.

"...We're late, aren't we?"She asked, and I nodded slowly, Iris sighing and shaking her head.

"Hand me the phone."

"Why?"

"Just do it!"

I glared at her, shoving a hand into my pocket as I handed her the phone, her looking at it cautiously before a lull in the screaming finally came, holding it against her ear and sitting back on the bed, one hand supporting her up as she spoke, in a calm and kind tone that I never heard towards me,

"Maria? Hey, sorry, we kinda slept in after everything that happened yesterday...yeah, I'm fine..."She paused, and then laughed, leaning forward with one elbow on her knee, hair falling in her face as I raised an eyebrow, never seeing her so...well...

Comftorble. Normally she was the edgiest person in Hector, but now with her laugh that sounded so carefree coming from someone like her, and that little smile on her face that lit up a normally-dark expression, it was like I could finally see her in the light now. And, and I cursed myself for thinking this later, I had to admit that her looks lived up to her uniqueness. Something about her eyes, her nose, her lips, the hair falling in her face, how everything seemed so much lighter now, it was almost...like a unique kind of attractiveness.

"No, he behaved himself."She turned her face up to me, a sly and mischevious smirk on her face that made that twisting in my chest tighten, me trying to ignore it as I glared at her. She shook her head amusedly and looked back to her hand, saying after a pause, "Where's that?...Okay, if he doesn't I'll call you back...alright, meet you there soon. Bye Maria."

She snapped shut the phone and handed it back to me, mummbling to myself,

"Why they all gotta treat you like a damn princess?"

"Why not?"She quipped back, and before she could move I leaned all the way down, one hand behind her on the bed and the other holding onto the leg post, my face close to hers as I smirked down at her, asking,

"Then who's your knight, baby?" Again, that sexy little spark lit in her eyes and she shot right back, sliding under the arm holding onto the post,

"Sorry, _baby, _but it's not nearly as effecting with your shirt on. C'mon, Maria and the others want to meet us in the parking lot of something called The Follicle." I looked after her, sighing tiredly. This kid was gonna be the death of me, with how crazy she was driving me trying to figure her out. I straightened up, smoothing back my dreads as she opened the door and walked out.

"Ya just had ta pick up the damn glove, Thrax."I muttered to myself, walking out the door behind her, knowing today might be even longer than the last one.

_Iris's p.o.v****_

"Iris!"Osmosis sounded like a little kid seeing his favorite friend for the first time in a long time, running over to me the second I stepped out of the car and wrapping his arms around me, lifting me into the air in a massive hug.

"H-hi Osmosis!"I managed out, suffocating in his tight grasp until Maria made him put me down, taking in a deep breath as he said smoothly, Thrax rounding the front of his car,

"You can call me Ozzy, girl! Osmosis is too formal."He popped his collar as he said this, and I couldn't surpress the small chuckle at how ridiculous he was, pretty much a copy of Ian, except 'Ozzy' didn't smack the back of my head whenever I said something rude.

"Nice for you to finally join us,"Maria said jokingly, sitting on the front of her police car, Chief no where in sight with Drix squeezing out of a sleek purple car three sizes too small for his massive frame. I smiled over at her and asked, excited to finally get this thing started so that I'd get at least a small idea of what I was gonna get myself into,

"So, what are we doing here?"

"Good question."Thrax muttered, and I elbowed him in the side, getting a glare from him that I chose to ignore, looking forward at Drix who finally managed to free himself, floating over to us and saying,

"We decided that if we just sit around waiting for Pox to slip up, then we'll have waited far too late. Therefore, we devised a plan to split up and do a search of different sectors of Hector, too see if anything suspicious is going on and hopefully find out information by 'sleuthing'."

"You speak english?"Thrax muttered, and I elbowed him again, harder.

"Stop that!"He mummbled quietly and angrily, me throwing him a look that said 'be-nice', not needing him and any of these guys throwing down when everything was tense enough already. I looked back, actually thinking that, for a stuck-in-the-mud situation like this, the plan was actually decent.

"We can't spend all day looking through Hector, so we gotta split into two teams."Maria explained, and Ozzy instantly jumped up and down and exclaimed,

"I want Iris!"

"Hey now!"Thrax exclaimed, but everyone ignored him, me stuck between standing there and agreeing with Ozzy, not knowing who I'd rather have angry with me. Thankfully, it didn't appear to be up for debate, Drix clapping his hands together once and saying happily,

"Wonderful! It's decided, Jones and I will take Iris to the right portion of Hector, and Maria and Thrax will take the left!"

"Hold up! Who said-"

"Shut it, Muerte Rojo, we're takin' my car. That thing doesn't even look street legal."Maria interrupted him, walking to her car and opening the driver's side door, sliding and mentioning the sharp, sleek, very very fast red car Thrax had just driven, the reason for the crick in my neck. I looked up at him for a second, everything happening fast and really without his consent.

He was staring dumbfounded, as if he couldn't believe these people that, from what I'd gathered, he pretty much hated more than anything, were actually ordering him around. Ozzy grabbed my arm and, without my consent either, pulled me over to the purple car. I looked back, Ozzy jumping into the driver's side and Drix in the back, part of me actually looking forward to spending time with Ozzy, but the other part not wanting to leave Thrax alone with Maria.

Not only would the two fight, but somewhere deep, deep down inside of me I was surprised to find that...I was concerned. Deeply, in fact, at the thought of him getting into trouble that he couldn't handle. Of course, that was ridiculous, Thrax had almost taken out all of Pox's guys and Pox himself back on the rooftop from what I could remember, but still... Maybe I really had gotten too close to him, because I actually felt my heart drop a bit just imagining Thrax getting into trouble and Pox taking someone else away from me...

But what did Thrax mean to me where Pox would use it to hurt me, just like he did with my family? I couldn't quite place him as a friend, but then, what else could he be? Regardless, before I slid into the car, I called back to a still-grumpy Thrax getting into the passenger seat of Maria's car,

"Hey Thrax." He looked up, raising an eyebrow as he slid on his shades, the ones that blocked his yellow eyes from me. I paused a second, not wanting this to sound too odd, before saying seriously, "Be careful, okay?" He paused a second, and then nodded once.

"You too, princess."He teased lightly, and I rolled my eyes, opening the car door and sliding in.

"You ready to learn from the master detective of Hector Immunity?"Osmosis asked slyly, and I caught Drix rolling his eyes at me from the back seat. I smirked a bit and sat back, Ozzy flooring it and ripping out of the parking lot, leaving Thrax and Maria behind us.

_Thrax's p.o.v****_

I'd never wanted to rip someone's throat out more in my entire life.

If there had ever been a more demanding woman in the world, then her husband had probably already given up any hope of ever being happy again. With this woman it was either I wasn't doing something right, I looked too suspicious, or I wasn't paying enough attention. I was paying attention alright, to how much I really wanted to break this contract with Immunity by just ending this woman's tyrade of remarks and nagging.

Maybe I was just on-edge because Iris wasn't here, because all she had for protection was the pill and Jones and that was just a joke. Hector, if they ran into any trouble she was the one protecting them, and if she got hurt...I bristled at the thought, having stopped caring about my embarrasingly intense need to keep that girl safe a long, long time ago. I wouldn't admit that I cared about her, wouldn't admit that I'd gotten soft, but I'd be a damn fool to say that she meant nothing to me at this point.

Thought, at this point, I didn't know what the hell she was supposed to mean to me.

"You even listenin' to me?"Maria snapped, and finally I was done, not able to stand one more second of this woman.

"We're done, why should I?"I snapped at her after we finally walked through the liver, the last place left to look before going home. It had taken five hours to get all the way down to the foot, and the damn woman decided to start from there and work our way up. Now it was already getting dark, and Iris was proabably back home by now, if she could even find her way.

"Excuse m-"

"No, no 'excuse me', no 'Thrax', no 'but', I'm leavin' and you should count your lucky stars I ain't shut your trap myself yet."I threatened, getting close enough to her and holding her by the collar of her jacket, her eyes wide and angry without much care from my part. After an intense bout of glaring, I shoved her lightly away from me and started walking, knowing it was about a one-hour trek on foot back to the apartement, but like hell if I was going to get back in the car with that woman.

I heard her mutter something behind me, but I ignored it, heading down an alley as her car flew past, the wind stirring up my jacket and making me glare back in her direction.

"Damn women, gonna be the end of me."I muttered angrily to myself, shoving my hands into my pockets and wishing I'd brought my chain along to at least have something to occupy my mind, walking along the dark and wet alley, mind going back to Iris, wondering what they'd found if anything.

"C'mon man, we're gonna be late! Smalls don't let no one in after nine!"

"I'm commin, hold up!"

I paused, instantly pressing my back against the cartilage wall, peeking around the corner with my ears straining, not believing that the second I ditched Maria was the second I actually found something interesting. Then again, with all the noise she'd been making it was a shock we hadn't already scared off every virus and germ in this whole city.

"Man, move your ass! They're closin' the doors! We can't miss this!"The first germ shouted, two shadows darting across an unlit street, looking up to see every streetlight blown out and cracked. What better way to hide something than in the dark? I turned back, watching as the two stopped on the other side of the street, looked around, and then knocked on a door to a large, rectangular building with a slightly raised glass roof, streetlights behind me reflecting off it and barely outlining the large black mass.

"Spit,"I muttered, seeing the door openeing and both germs quickly scuttering inside, two massive germs shutting the door. Two germs I remembered well: One that got away when I first met Iris, the other the germ that took Pox into the helicopter yesterday. I had to admit, he was a fast mover. 'Already got all this shit together, even when he knows I'm still after him. Cocky bastard.' I thought to myself, and eyed the glass ceiling.

If I could get up there without anyone seein' me, then I'd be able to figure out what the hell Pox planned to do with this body, usually having moved on if I hadn't killed it in at least 72 hours. He didn't do anything to bodies that weren't going to die in the time he alloted himself to sit and wait, only caring to take credit for the quickest and most brutal scores. But he was still here, and I had a chilling idea of why.

Iris. He wanted her, his biggest goal to his biggest score. Wanted to use her, and he wasn't leaving here without her. My skin crawled at the idea of that man having her, using her, breaking her, of Iris having to do whatever that man wanted her to do, that man who killed her family and ruined her life. He was in there planning on how to lure her out, on how to catch her from us.

Like hell was I gonna let him get anywhere near her. Looking down the street to make sure no one was out looking, no more stragglers I'd have to deal with, I then caught a glimps of a rusted ladder on the side of the building, a fire escape type thing. I pushed off the wall...

And then thought for a second about Iris's words. _'Be careful, okay?'_ ...This was probably the exact oppisit of 'careful', going solo into a meeting filled with germs that I could take one-on-one, maybe two-on-one, but not all at once, especially not the kind of crowd I knew Pox drew. I could wait, or call Jones or Maria back... But not only did that sound painful, it would take too damn long, and by that time we could have missed something already.

I'd flown solo before, I could do it now. So long as nothing went wrong, I wasn't really lying about the whole 'careful' thing...not that I was supposed to care about keeping a promise. I shook my head, not about to have this debate right now, and after double-checking that no one was in the street, I sprinted towards the ladder on the side of the building.

_Iris's p.o.v****_

"Everythin' check out OK?"Ozzy asked Drix as he floated up to us from a cave-like structure in the fractured shoulder that Hector had splinted a week ago, Ozzy and I standing on top of the metal plate that the doctor's had to place to firmly set the bone.

"Just a few small germs that have been duly exterminated. Everything seems to be fine in Hector today."Drix announced proudly, me smiling and sitting down, swinging my legs over the side of the plate and looking down at the steep drop that Drix would have to carry us down later, once Maria and Thrax showed back up. They were supposed to meet us here when they were done, and part of me was becoming more and more worried about those two.

"You think Maria and Thrax got into a fight?"I asked, Ozzy sitting carelessly down next to me and streaching, sliding on some shades and saying,

"Baby, don't worry..."He paused, and then added, "There was probably minimal bloodloss." I rolled my eyes, but chuckled anyway, shaking my head.

"You're just like him..."I muttered, smiling and combing my hair back with my fingers.

"Like who?"Ozzy asked, and I looked up at him surprised, blushing a little when I realized that I'd said that out loud. Maybe I really was becoming a bit too comftorble around him and Drix, at a loss for what to say. They were both looking at me curiously, and I felt embarrasement creep inside me at the thought of explaining something like that to him.

I scratched the back of my head and laughed nervously, wishing I'd kept my mouth shut. But they were waiting for an answer, and there wasn't really a way out of telling them at this point.

"You just...you kinda act like my brother did. All joking and smooth, ya know?"I tried awkwardly, and cringed inwardly, waiting for the looks of sympathy that I didn't want, especially not from these two...

"Ya hear that, Drix? Smooth! Watch out, I told ya I got moves with the ladies!"Ozzy excliamed, me looking up at him both surprised and unbelievably relieved, something inside of me warming up at his reaction, one that Ian would have had. He never took anything seriously, everything could be smoothed over with a joke. Drix even rolled his eyes, musing as he adjusted something on the gun-arm,

"These are the moves that get you slapped on a daily basis?" Ozzy sent him a pout and I shook my head, laughing and saying,

"Yep, definilty like him! Ian had a habit of falling for anything with two legs." Ozzy held up his hands, saying in his defense,

"Yo! I got my standards!"

"Yes, Osmosis likes anything with two legs _and _ chromosomes."Drix deadpanned. I pulled my feet up to sit cross-legged as Ozzy huffed and exclaimed, crossing his arms,

"Least I ain't into red-guys..." I choked on nothing, head snapping towards Ozzy and my heart beating fast, trying to tell myself that I didn't know why I was reacting this way, when I really knew exactly what he was insinuating, his eyes sliding over towards me sleuthly. My face shot red, stuttering out and hoping that I'd heard wrong,

"Wh-what?" Drix looked at Ozzy curiously, too, and at least gave me the reassurance that he didn't know where this was coming from, either.

"Yes, what do 'red-guys' have to do with anything?"He asked curiously, Ozzy streaching nonchalantly and nodding towards me, saying knowingly,

"Why don't we ask our little Iris over here? You and Thrax seem to be kinda friendly with each other." My face shot an even brighter red, stomach twisting in nervousness. Me and Thrax? What was Ozzy seeing that I clearly wasn't? And what did he mean by 'friendly'? In front of the others, Thrax and I had just spoken, nothing like what Ozzy was assuming!...

Then again, there was the moment yesterday, when Thrax was just messing with me...but that was just a joke, right? And Ozzy hadn't seen that, so what would give him the idea that...that what?

"Aw, don't give me that face!"Ozzy coaxed, elbowing me and musing, still smiling, "I know you know what I'm talkin' 'bout, just look how red your face is! I'm right, aren't I? Huh?"

"I-I don't know...what do you mean? Thrax and I haven't...I mean, I don't know how you think..."I stuttered, unable to figure out a complete sentence.

"Osmosis, you wouldn't be insinuating that Iris and Thrax have something going on, are you? I mean, Iris is quite a lovely girl, but...this is _Thrax _ you're talking about here. As in, the serial-killing crime boss with borderline narcisistic personality disorder and a criminal record that has to be kept in its own special file drawr. Hardly 'boyfriend material'."Drix explained skeptically, Ozzy shrugging.

"Girls like the bad-boy look."

"Thrax isn't a bad boy. He's a phsycotic criminal."Drix deadpanned, and I muttered sarcastically to myself,

"When you put it that way, he seems so nice."

"Hey, all I'm sayin' is that I ain't never, eeeever, seen Thrax act the way he does around you."Osmosis said lightly, and I looked up at him in surprise.

"Thrax doesn't act different around me...I think."I realized halfway through speaking that I hadn't actually known Thrax before, and couldn't tell if his behavior around me was different from how it 'normally was', if it really changed at all, which I doubted. I mean, yeah, he seemed pretty quick to be the one who I stayed with, and that whole heart-to-heart last night couldn't be normal for a guy like him, but...that didn't mean anything...did it?

"Iris girl, listen, I've known Thrax for years now. He's the coldest, baddest virus I've ever encountered, and that's sayin' something. He flies solo, he don't give a damn about anyone other than himself, and he never protected anyone...until you."Ozzy said, eyebrows raised and an honest look on his face. I paused, suddenly curious as to what Ozzy was getting to.

All those things he said about Thrax made perfect sense. In fact, I remember wondering why he acted any differently, that initial sense of danger that I got from him fitting every characteristic that these two had named...and yet, I'd never seen him like that at all. All I could remember him being was sarcastic, infuriating, and strangely protective. So why was he like that around me? What made it any different?

"Now that you mention it,"Drix added in, "Thrax has been rather protective of Iris. He seemed quite adimant that she stay with him, and it was beyond peculiar that he brought you to the hospital after what happened with Pox. Is it possible that even our cold-hearted criminal could be developing feelings?"

"Sure it is! Whatever you just said!"Ozzy exclaimed, me still sitting there silently and awkwardly, not knowing what to put into this. The cop turned to me and wrapped an arm around my shoulders, smiling and asking, "So? What do you have to tell us, huh? I promise on my badge I wont tell anyone!"

"And I promise I wont let Jones slip up and tell someone by accident."Drix teased lightly, Ozzy huffing and turning back to me, smiling and raising his eyebrows in expectance. I paused, looking from him to Drix, and wondering exactly what to say, or if I wanted to tell them in the first place...no, more like _why _ I wanted to tell them. Tell them all the confusing things that I was feeling, all the complications, everything that was going on...

Because the last time I'd ever spoken to someone like that was with Ian. And I'd always gone to my father with questions, as well as my mother. And these two just reminded me of the two so much that, in my mind, though they could never replace them, they did give me a...family, one I could talk to, and in this moment I opened up, and felt like something in my chest had a weight taken off of it, a weight that had rested there for twelve years.

"I don't know...I guess there are..._feelings..._ but I don't know what they are. I mean, it's Thrax, just like Drix said, and I've never really given thought to anything like that. I don't know if I'd be ready for something like that, anyways, not with everything that's going on."I finally admitted, rubbing one arm with the other hand. Ozzy squeezed my shoulder and pulled me closer to him, giving me a kind smile that warmed my chest and saying in his smooth way,

"Hey, Iris girl, you don't gotta worry one bit about what's goin' on now, alright? We all go your back, me, Drix, Maria, and Thraxy-boy. When this is all over, you ring us up and I'll play Match-Maker Jones, a'ight?"He winked, and Drix mouthed behind him 'Don't', making me surpress a giggle as I smiled wide back at Ozzy. And for a second, I saw Ian's face in his smile. And in that second, I reached forward and wrapped my arms around his neck, squeezing tight.

He seemed surprised for a second, but then quickly hugged me back, me saying,

"Thank you, Ozzy. You too, Drix."

"Oh, now you're making me all emotional!"Drix exclaimed, and I felt a big arm wrap around me. Soon, both Ozzy and I were lifted clean off the ground and pulled into a massive three-person bear hug.

"Drix! Yo man, we ain't this close!"Ozzy managed out, me just trying to breathe. Were all hugs like this with these two?

"Yo! You all wanna stop your love-fest for a second?"I heard Maria's voice call up, Drix setting us down and I looked over, seeing her leaning against her car with a smile despite her annoyed tone, arms crossed. Instantly, I noticed something off. More like a missing someone.

"Hey, where's Thrax?"I called down, Maria sighing and glaring back the way she'd driven.

"He ditched, decided to walk his ass home. You wanna ride?"She asked, me sighing inwardly. I knew he'd pull something like this, and something inside me said it was better to go look for him than just sit in the apartement. Besides...he was the only one who knew how to get there.

"Nah, I'll go look for him myself. I'll call you when I find him."I assured her after her skeptical look.

"Yo, be a good girl."Ozzy teased, and I blushed, making the cop laugh and pat me on the back. Drix floated me down first, and the second my feet hit the ground I started walking, knowing it was going to get dark soon.

"Don't forget to call!"Maria shouted back as I turned, nodding and waving to her. The rest called some other things, but I couldn't hear them, well out of earshot at this point as I headed down a street that broke into the chest cavity, knowing that Thrax probably ditched close to the apartement. The only organ I could name near it was the liver.

It took a good half hour to get down there, walking cautiously the darker it got, starting to get worried that I might actually have missed Thrax on his way to the apartement. I bit my lip as I entered a street without street lights, a chill running down my spine as I saw each of them completely blown out, almost on purpose, the glass shattered and bulbs lying on the sidewalks.

"Spit, Thrax. Where the hell..."I trailed off, looking up as I saw a spark of light, a familiar kind of light, coming off the top of a building. I narrowed my eyes, looking harder as a figure moved on top, a familiar figure. And then a shout.

Many shouts.

And the shattering of glass.


	9. Chapter 9

_Thrax's p.o.v****_

"It's called the 'Right Atrium', the chamber of the heart that distributes oxygen-rich blood to city. The entire City of Hector depends on this chamber to thrive and survive, and yet we've gathered that it's security is rather...slack. Makes it that much easier, doesn't it?"A crisp, light voice asked nonchalantly, slow and elegant movements as he drew a finger slowly across a picture on the wall that, from this angle, I could only guess was a diagram of the heart. My fingers curled, pressing into the glass as my eyes narrowed.

Pox was right there, just below me, and all I had to do was break through the damn glass and all this would be finished, on my terms. No more running, no more bad rep, just a brighter future and one less thorn in my side. But I held myself back, looking down and knowing that, while I had no real plan, breaking into the middle of this meeting was something Jones would do. And I almost had his throat slit, if that pill hadn't shown up.

I didn't have anyone to jump in and save me, not that I needed it, but I didn't want to take that risk. Instead, I'd listen to the rest of Pox's plan, seeing the yellow-tinted man below me in the ornate, giant room, a table of at least twenty-five germs sitting and listening to him speak, all of them too large for their chairs and with angry, serious scowls on their marked and disfigured faces. Just the kind of crowd he liked.

"You see, gentlemen, this is exactly where we want to be. Any other place Immunity could easily harm a bit, gunfire and breaking down a few tissues to get to us or disarm us...but this is a different kind of place. You see, the heart is a funny thing."Pox turned and began walking around the table, tracing a shape around his own rotted heart as he spoke, something off about everything he did, as if he weren't all there and at the same time convincing everyone he was a genius.

"It controls such strong things. Blood, oxygen, yes, but also the main things that drive our life. Feelings. Emotions. The things so many are succeptible to, quite possibly the strongest weapons available to the world. And yet the heart is such a fragile thing.

"If one would dare to rip a tissue, clog a chamber...blow up a chamber.."He paused, the smirk evident in his voice as he turned the corner, me too enraptured in what was going on in his twisted mind to think of moving, "Then the entire city would fall in mere minutes. A feat not many can say they've accomplished...until tomorrow, for a select few of you."

Tomorrow?! I cursed under my breath, knowing that I'd done the same thing back in Frank. But this asshole wasn't settin' a time record, he'd already been in the body too long for that. He just wanted to send this body up fast, with a heart problem that doctors wouldn't be able to track back to him... And then I realized exactly what he meant.

My skin ran cold for the first time since this morning, when I'd woken up to Iris pressed to me. Iris. That's what he wanted out of all of this. He could say it was to destroy this city faster than any virus before, and these meat-heads would eat it up. But that's not what he wanted, not what he was going to lure in with this. He knew, he knew she was working with Immunity. He had to know.

Because this was exactly the kind of thing that we had no choice but to follow and prevent. No choice but to bring Iris along to. And that's what he wanted. A chance at Iris, to get close to her. And the plan was fool-proof. I felt my skin crawl with anger, jaw tight, shaking as the realization set in. That we were already too late...

Maybe. Maybe... The thought hit me, and I focused on it. It was the only way, the only way to keep her safe. Otherwise Pox would win, and she'd have run for nothing...

"Hey! Up there!" I looked down, heart dropping as I saw a large germ pointing up to me, standing as the others attention quickly fell to him, and then faces looking up at me, eyes flying wide and more shouts flying out.

"Spit!"I cursed, and without thinking lit my claw and slashed it across the glass, a spark of red fire flying up and spitting out of the crevase, spreading like wildfire across the surface as veins darted quickly all over the ceilling, quickly down the walls, boiling lava-like substance pouring out of every line and crack, falling down into the room as the shouts of the men sounded out. My adrenaline kicked in, cursing myself for not paying more attention.

A bullet flew through the glass just to my right, making me roll away as the glass shattered, forming a small hole as the building became hot, flames cracking and shouts coming more rapidly than blind bullets far away from me. For a second, I looked down through the hole, and there was only one man standing there amoungst others, all scrambling for the door, not all of them going to make it, some already on the floor in puddles...

Pox smiled up at me, not facing me, his head slightly tilted sideways and up in my direction, eyes sliding sideways up at me. A knowing, victorious smirk played on his lips, made me coil and seethe. Because he knew I knew. He knew he was so close to winning. That he'd backed us into a corner. If he was going to plant a bomb in the heart, then we'd have to act, and Iris would have to follow...

Unless I could do something about it. But the look in his eyes was challenging, as if he dared me to do what I was thinking, as if he knew that, at the end of the day tomorrow, he'd be victorious. I tensed, throwing away everything that I'd warned myself about and about to jump through the hole, the building going slowly up in flames, ready to rip his head off.

But a small hand ripped me from the view of the window, and a familiar shout screamed,

"C'mon! Get out of here!" I looked forward, seeing Iris for just a moment as she all but dragged me across the roof and over to the ladder, dissapearing down it fast. Whatever had possesed me back there was gone, and I flew down the ladders almost as fast as she did, landing on my feet and instantly turning, sprinting across the street just to try and keep up with Iris as she flew down the alley, moving fast and lithe, hair flying behind her.

I didn't care how she found me, all I cared was getting her away from there, away from Pox, away from the burning building that could have hurt her. So we ran, fast and long, for what felt like hours but in reality was probably no more than twenty or thirty minutes. By the time Iris finally stopped, in a clean alley way between two of the nicer apartements in Hector, my lungs were burning and we both doubled over, panting.

I leaned a hand against the wall, catching my breath as Iris braced her hands on her knees.

"Yo kid,"I panted once I'd caught a bit of my breath back, "You get hurt-"

"What the _fuck_ were you thinking?!"She shouted, suddenly with her hand around my throat and shoving me down until I was almost sitting on the ground, her kneeling above me and glaring daggers, a look of hostility that I'd never seen in her before. I was so caught off-guard by this that I didn't have a response, just starring wide-eyed at her as she continued, hair in her face as it scrunched in fury, eyes lit with anger.

"What part of 'be careful' did you not understand!? Do you have any idea how much trouble you could have gotten in, what kind of danger you were in?! Why would you even _think _ of going somewhere like that without us?!"She shouted at me, and I realized that the look in her eyes had something more to it. Something hidden behind the now-darkened stormcloud eyes. Pain. Pain, and worry.

And even though I saw this, I didn't understand it. And that part of me that always fought back against her rose back up, the rational part of my brain failing me again as I snapped right back, leaning forward with her hand still lightly yet firmly around my neck,

"Like any of you would have gotten there in time anyway! I just got all of Pox's plan, and what were you all doin' huh? Tell me baby, cuz I don' think you and those god damned cops were doing anythin' other than having a damn ball just sittin' an' chummin' it up!" Her eyes grew wide, the pain more evident now, defensiveness creeping in as she pressed harder, so hard that my head slammed against the hard wall behind me, underestimating her strength.

"Sitting around?! I was looking for YOU! Because you ditched Maria, because you went off on your own and almost jumped into a building full of germs and fucking POX! What would have happened if I didn't show up, huh?! What would have happened to you?!"She demanded, and I didn't even catch the crack in her voice, my anger blinding me from everything as I defended myself, shouting right back at her,

"I would have slit Pox's throat! I would have done what none of y'all had the balls to do-"

"You would have fucking _DIED_!"She cut me off, and my words died in my throat. Because I finally noticed it, the shining lines trailing down her cheeks, the shine in her eyes, the grit of her teeth, the trembling of her voice as she screamed at me. Felt the tears fall onto my pant leg. She shoved me harder against the wall as she shouted, voice trembling and cracking,

"You would have died, and where would that leave me, huh?! What would I do if you died?! If he took another person away from me, how did you think I was going to be able to handle that?! I went through the once, I lost everyone I loved once! I'm not going to let that happen again! I wasn't going to let him take you away from me! So be pissed at me, I don't fucking care! Because you're an idiot! You promised to be careful and then you pull shit like this! You-" She cut off, voice giving out as she looked down, taking in a ragged breath, me sitting there dumbstruck, watching as she showed a side of her I never expected, never wanted to see.

The tears rolled down her face angrily, the pain written across her features as the grip on my throat loosened. She shook her head, looking down with her eyes squeezed shut.

"You asshole..."She whispered, and the utter pain in her voice damn near broke my heart. She stood and, before I could even blink, she was gone. Leaving me in the alleyway, back against the wall, head slamming back against the wall so hard I was surprised I didn't draw blood. I felt like the worst shit in the world. That image of her face, of those tears that dried on my pant leg, of the pain in her voice, all of it wouldn't leave me, not even when I squeezed my eyes shut.

Her words hit me hard, the meaning of them just sinking in. '_I lost everyone I loved once! I'm not going to let that happen again!' _ _'What would I do if you died?!'_ ... I wished I'd never gone to the building. Wished I'd called one of them. Jones. Maria. It didn't matter. I wished I'd been careful. Wished I didn't let my damn pride get in the way.

I wished I could have done something that didn't make her cry. Wished I could take it all back. Because now it didn't matter if I were Thrax, didn't matter if I was supposed to be some badass with no feelings towards others other than to use them as pawns, didn't matter if my rep was trash or the greatest damn record ever to be seen in history. I didn't give a shit about any of it.

Because the one thing I'd been blind to the whole time just hit me, and the one thing that mattered at all, the one thing that had changed all of this, the one thing that I could say made a damn difference at all, the one thing that I never saw coming, that took everything I'd once believed and gave it a new light, the only thing that could have ever changed me while keeping me exactly the same...I'd made it cry.

"...God damned runner..."I whispered, but I knew it wasn't her I was angry at. It was never her. It was me and my choice to be blind to all of it until I'd taken it and ruined it. But that couldn't be it, not with just that. I couldn't just sit here on my ass and feel sorry for myself. I had to put it back together, even if it meant swallowing my pride. Because this was one thing I wasn't about to lose to Pox.

_Iris's p.o.v****_

The cold air bit at my face, whiping at my tears angrily with the inside of my wrist, cursing at them to stop in my own mind, taking a good ten minutes to finally stop the constant flow of tears down my cheeks. Crying was something I'd been taught never to do, because crying meant that I'd given up and the world could see it. But, for the first time, I'd cursed what my father said to me. He was wrong about running, and right now he had been wrong about crying.

Because if I'd kept that pain inside of me, I might just have broken. And maybe I'd over reacted, maybe I could have acted calmer, but when I saw him about to jump in there the only thing that I could think of was the scream of my mother and Ian ringing in my ears, imagine their dead bodies that I'd never seen. Ian. Mother. Father. And then Thrax.

And all of that anger balled up into pain and I'd let it out, because he broke his promise, because I'd almost lost him to Pox, and suddenly that thought became unbearable, and I began to cry yet again.

"Shit, Iris. Stop crying."I whispered to myself, the cold air chilling my face and bare feet as I tried to stop the tears again, trying not to think about 'it'. 'It', the reason that I couldn't stand the thought of losing Thrax, the reason that I'd gotten so angry when he almost got himself killed, the reason that I was trying so hard to avoid. Because it was dangerous, because it would hurt that much more if anything did happen to him, because...because it was terrifying, and I'd never been taught to deal with anything like it, damnit!

"...It's cold. Get inside." His voice was the last and first thing I wanted to hear, settling on my default reaction and spinning around, shoving past him into the apartement and storming through the living room and kitchen, rounding through the door to the bedroom, not knowing exactly what I was going to do, as if he wouldn't follow me. Right now, I just had to get as far away from him as possible. I'd already said too much, who knew what I'd say the next time I got angry at him.

I crawled onto the bed, sitting with my knees up and my face in my arms like a child, feeling juvenile but not caring. If Thrax thought so too he didn't say anything, hearing him walking slowly and quietly around to his side of the bed. There was a small pause, and then his weight next to me. I thought about running, but didn't have time.

"Iris."

"Go away."I said, and this time sounded so much like an angry child that even Thrax got tired of it.

"Cut it out!"He snapped, a tear rolling down my face as I looked away from him, face still buried in my arms.

"Just leave!"I croaked out, cursing my weak voice.

"Iris, damnit!"Thrax shouted, and before I could move his hand was grabbing my arm, and I was pulled sideways, half-thrown onto his lap and pulled forward, a fluttering sound as a black trench coat was thrown around my shoulders and used to tug me forward even more, two arms wrapping around me and pressing me securely and very tightly to a chest, a soft grey turtleneck pressing against the side of my face as my hands braced on his sides.

I didn't try to move, couldn't, one of his hands on the back of my head and the other bunched up on my back, through the jacket. He placed his chin on my head, not allowing me time to talk, feeling too wrapped in warmth despite everything to even argue at this point. It was warm, so close to him, his body pressed to mine, jacket around my shoulders and face hidden from him, allowing me to cry freely though I still tried to hold them back, not wanting to seem more like a child than I already did. His arms around me, so safe, that I forgot to be angry at him and buried my face into his chest.

This wasn't the Thrax I was used to, but one that felt like it belonged, not another person, just a different side. His hand pressed urgently to the back of my head, his voice low and troubled, angry almost,

"It ain't fair."He said, feeling the quick beat of his heart in his chest as I pressed my face to it, just listening, "None of it is. It ain't fair that your family's dead, it ain't fair that you had to run, it ain't fair that those people hurt you, and it ain't fair that he wont stop until he gets to you. An' I'm sorry, baby. I'm sorry that I can't do shit about it but pull shit like I did tonight. An' I'm sorry that I couldn't see things sooner.

"An' I'm sorry that none of this fixes anythin', an' that you have to hurt so damn bad, an' that I'm not makin' it any better. But baby..."He stopped, cursing quietly under his breath as my tears stopped, just listening to the rumble of words in his chest, tears drying from the heat of his body. My hands tightened around his sides, chest and stomach doing those things again, head resting fully on his chest.

"Baby, I'm gonna break his goddamned skull. It ain't gonna get rid of your pain, but you'll safe...so long as I can get you outta here before his plan happens."His voice was quieter now, and I was past the point of asking details. I just shook my head, resting my forehead on his chest.

"I'm not leaving."I said quietly. Thrax's hand moved from the back of my head to my ear, saying,

"Iris, you don't-"

"I'm not gonna leave you."I said again, this time almost pleadingly. And he paused, the hand unbunching in the back and rubbing soothingly down my back.

"Fine, kid. Just promise me something."

"What?"I asked, and felt his claw slide under my chin, removing my head from his chest and making me look up at him. Below my hands, I felt his heart beat pick up, mine mimicking it in speed, his eyes looking down at me almost searching, curious. Thinking.

"You'll take a breather."He said, a dreadlock falling in his face. I paused a second, thinking about it. A breather.

"I promise."I agreed, his claw still under my chin. He paused another moment, the light from the door in the other room barely shining on us, lighting the edges of his face, down his cheekbones, over his pointed chin and thin mouth set in a thinking frown, narrowed yellow eyes looking down into mine, hand sliding up my back and resting halfway up my spine, sending a shiver up. But this time, it was a good shiver. A pleasent one.

And before I had time to think anymore, to look at his face or feel his heat against me, he lowered his face and tilted my head up more, heart painfully loud in my chest as I realized exactly what was going to happen...and I didn't stop it. Because, for some reason, it felt...right.

He pressed his lips to mine, and in a moment I felt heat crawl over my face, suddenly spreading through my face and down my neck, a warm and delicious heat, soft lips against mine in a gentle, tender way that I would never expect from Thrax. It was almost like he was kissing something fragile, just a barely-there touch that spread a sudden heat over me, and suddenly I wondered what it was like with a real kiss.

When he pulled back, I pushed forward, pressing my lips to his again, this time harder, hands balling into fists in the sides of his shirt, pushing myself up so I could reach. He stiffened for just a second, and then I could have sworn I felt a smile on his lips before he dove back down, one hand cupping the side of my face and lacing through my hair, the other sliding down my side and moving under the jacket, grasping onto my side tightly, a new heat spreading over my hip.

My blood was pumping, heart pounding, and something inside me knew that this was crazy. It was ridiculous. But it was right.

I felt his tongue trace along my lower lip, and I slowly opened my own mouth to meet it, the heat spreading on and inside my mouth abnormal, but not uncomftorble. I'd never kissed anyone before, and maybe he knew that, because he instantly took over, and I quickly learned how experienced he was. I pressed a palm against his stomach, the other hand still on his side and balled into a fist, probably wrinkling his shirt, but if he cared he didn't show it.

A hot tongue moved across mine, a shiver running down my spine despite the heat, me responding and trying not to seem too inexperienced by pushing back against him, this time knowing there was a smile there. His hand on my side slid up, taking the tank top with it and dragging a hot palm up my side and across my back, nails leaving small hot streaks, as if everywhere he touched spread an intense and yet unpainful heat.

He grasped my back, digging his nails into my skin a bit painfully. I responded back the best way I could without breaking the kiss, biting his lower lip irritatedly. He let out a grunt, and before I knew it he rolled, flipping me to the side and pressing my back to the bed. At this moment, there was no one else in the world. It was us, and while it might be terrifying and odd, maybe that was exactly what we were.

His one hand still rested under my head, his mouth hot on mine as his other hand drug up the bottom of my tank top, pushing it up to my ribs and trailing heat up my navel, my hands searching for a place on him to hold, to pull him closer. He saw this and moved the hand from behind my head, sliding it down to my navel while the other hand slid up my left side and into my hand, wrapping his fingers through mine. I squeezed his hand in mine, fingers laced together.

He could probably feel my heart beat as his claw-hand trailed up my stomach, the heat coming off the claw more intense and yet still not painful, his mouth keeping me half-focused on him, half-focused on my own chest, on the twisting inside of it that suddenly felt like it was released, and something bright and light took its place, as if it had been waiting for something that it finally got. And maybe, just maybe, that thing was Thrax.

He pulled his mouth slowly off mine, and I was about to complain when he quickly went to my jaw, placing a hard kiss on it and making me stifle a sound, instead just letting out a big breath I hadn't known I was holding. He smiled at this, squeezing my hand for a moment before moving down, kissing just under my jaw, then lower onto my neck. I gulped, hoping he didn't notice, his mouth sending waves of heat across my neck and collar bone.

Once he got to the crook where my neck met my shoulder, I felt him bite down, and I flinched a bit, my other hand smacking the side of his head.

"Ouch!"I snapped at him, but all I got back was a chuckle, low and amused. His mouth trailed over my collar bone and silenced me, whispering softly against my throat,

"Sorry, baby." He moved down until he could kiss my lower stomach, just above my jeans. His left hand brushed lightly over my navel, making me shiver and sending a wave of heat up at the same time, other hand pulling my hand down just a bit so that he could still hold it and kiss my stomach. I felt a fluttering in my stomach, like butterflies, as his kisses became more tender and gentle again, light and feathery across every inch of skin on my stomach.

He trailed up, claw tracing a circle on my side, sometimes dipping lower and crossing over, almost as if to calm me, as if I couldn't be more both calm and very uncalm at the same time. His kisses trailed up to my ribs, one last lingering kiss between them, on the little indent, before he moved himself back up, moving his face back between my shoulder and neck where he'd bitten, repeating the action.

Except this time I wasn't going to take it laying down. Literally.

I moved quickly, knowing I couldn't flip us if he was paying attention, pushing him up and over until I straddled his waist, a bit of shyness creeping into me as I quickly realized I had no idea what to do, pausing for a second. Thrax chuckled under me, reaching his claw-hand up and sliding it up the side of my face, my eyes meeting his in a moment of complete vunerablity, and I felt no shred of fear. Only trust.

"Don't stress, baby."He whispered, smirking softly up at me. I nodded slightly, and then leaned forward, deciding to follow his example. I pressed my mouth softly to his, my hair falling around our faces like a curtain, one of my hand reaching down, using my palm to push up his shirt, lightly trailing over defined abs that I'd seen and shrunk back from just yesterday, almost 24 hours ago.

How much had changed in just one day.

Thrax moved, pulling back for just a moment and lifting his upper body, pulling his shirt off and tossing it to the other side of the bed, making it easier for me as he lay back down.

"Still nervous?"He teased, and I answered him by sliding down and kissing his abs, just above his navel, one hand trailing down his side as the other held on tightly to his side. His skin under my mouth was hot, hotter than I knew it usually was, and if I looked close enough I could see that his skin was actually flushed, a deeper red than it normally was, which gave me a bit more confidence as I moved up, reaching his neck and giving it a light kiss.

One of my hands balanced me on the pillow next to his head, the other still holding onto his side tightly, worrying for a second if I were holding too tight. But his face didn't look like it was in pain, in fact I could almost see a smirk on the corner of his mouth. I paused, just looking down at him for a second, at Thrax laying below me, both of us panting like teenagers(me having an excuse, actually being one), and I realized just how ridiculous we must look. My shirt pushed up to my ribs, his on the other side of the bed, both of us flushed and smiling like idiots.

"Idiot."I whispered, his left hand reaching up and lacing his fingers through my hair, pushing it back from my face while placing pressure on the back of my head, ready to pull it down.

"Idi-"

"Thrax!"The door flew open, and I looked over wide-eyed, immediatly stiffening as Drix flew in frantically and exclaimed, "Thrax, is Iris- Oh! Oh my! I'm sorry! Oh dear, I didn't...!" He flushed a deeper red than Thrax and spun around, shooting to the door and saying in stuttered sentences, disheveled and frantic, "I didn't mean to barge in! I-I um, well, I just!"

I groaned and sat back, lacing my fingers through my hair and brushing it out of my face.

"I forgot to call."I scolded myself, Drix saying sheepishly from the door,

"Y-yes. We heard about the, um, the warehouse burning down near where Maria dropped off Thrax, and we wanted to see if you two were okay...I see that you both are." I blushed, Thrax still laying under me and asking nonchalantly, as if we weren't in a prone and quite suspicious position,

"They want us to meet them at ten o' clock in the damn night?"

"Well, we just need to know what happened, and if you got any information on Pox."Drix asked, slowly gaining his composure back. Thrax looked like he was going to refuse for a second, but I cast him a stern glare. No matter what was happening, we couldn't lose sight of the real issue. Thrax had found something out about Pox, I'd forgotten that in the rush of things, and we needed to discuss whatever it was before it was too late.

Finally, he rolled his eyes and mummbled,

"A'ight, we'll be down at the damn station soon."

"Thank you."Drix said politely, and paused. Thrax glared at the pill's back and snapped,

"You mind?" Drix jumped in the air and stuttered out quickly,

"O-oh yes, of course! I apologize, I'll see both of you there!" With that, he got the door and quickly shut it behind him, once again leaving Thrax and me alone in the dark apartement. I sighed and slid off him, pulling on my boots and lacing them up one-by-one, Thrax moving on the bed and pulling on his shirt and jacket.

I stood, making sure I wasn't still flushed from what had happened, already knowing I was going to have to explain it to Drix, no doubt he would tell Ozzy. The only person I was afraid of finding out was Maria. I shivered at the thought, but not for long. Two arms wrapped around my waist from behind, a warmth spreading over me again, though not as intensely as before. A light kiss was placed on the crook of my left shoulder, where he'd bitten me twice.

"There a bruise?"I asked, trailing a hand along the claw.

"Nah, baby. Nothin' there."He muttered, and I relaxed a bit.

"C'mon then, let's get down there before Ozzy throws a fit."I said, breaking slowly from his arms and walking towards the door. He followed me down the steps and into the car, me sliding into the passenger seat and him behind the wheel. I paused before he started the car, looking over at him and asking, feeling slightly embarrased as I did,

"Hey, Thrax?"

"Hm?"He asked, trying to fit a black key into the ignition. I blushed a little bit and looked away, asking quietly,

"I...uh...never really..._kissed_ before..." I trailed off, maybe blushing more now than I had before. Thrax paused a second, and then laughed so hard that I looked over and saw him holding his stomach, whiping a tear from his eye. I glared at him, embarrased, and reached over, punching him in the arm as hard as I felt necissairy. Despite it, he held his arm and leaned against his door, still laughing. It was deep, rich, and smooth, but still embarrasing.

I crossed my arms and glared at him until he managed to calm down, whiping another tear of laughter from his eye before giving me a lopsided smile.

"Aw, baby, don't give me that look. I know you ain't angry at me anymore."He teased, reaching his claw forward and tracing my cheek with it. In another surprisingly tender moment, he leaned forward and placed a soft kiss on my forehead, saying quietly,

"Besides, you did fine."

I didn't want to admit how that made my heart skip a beat, or the smile I had to fight. But something told me he knew, because he smiled a bit wider and sat back, pulling out his shades and sliding them on, slamming his foot down on the gas and sending us flying forward, the road and buildings a blur. I looked out the window, sighing.

Right now was so nice, so calm...almost normal. And I knew that, very soon, everything would become so much more dangerous, that the next 24 hours would hold events that would change my life forever, that the road ahead of us was going to be hard and deadly.

But, for at least right now, I wanted to enjoy this. However fleeting it was going to be.


	10. Chapter 10

_Iris's p.o.v****_

We walked into a big room on a separate hallway from Chief's office, branching off into a private part of the station. Opening the door, it was almost like they were sitting there just waiting for us to walk in, everyone instantly on their feet as Thrax shoved his hands into his pockets grumpily, me hoping Drix didn't let spill what he'd walked into.

"Iris! You're okay!"Ozzy cheered, and I sighed, none of them apparently guessing anything. Drix gave me a small and subtle wink from behind Ozzy, and I gave him a grateful smile back. At least that was one thing I didn't have to worry about...

"What's that on your shoulder?"Maria snapped sternly, and I looked at her wide-eyed, blushing a bright red and immediatly slapping my hand over the spot, feeling the sting of a bruise. I looked quickly up at Thrax and punched him in the side, whispering angrily,

"You told me nothing was there!" He got a mischevious smile on his face and said smoothly,

"I lied."

"I'm gonna kill you."I muttered furiously, blushing a bright red as I felt everyone's eyes on us. I looked back sheepishly, seeing Chief coughing awkwardly and trying to focus on anything else, Drix scratching the back of his head as Ozzy gaped, looking from me to Thrax, even though he was the one insinuating things earlier today.

Maria crossed her arms and pointed at the two of us, saying sternly,

"We gonna talk about this later. Now sit down and tell what happened at that warehouse tonight." I was relieved that the attention was taken off me, walking and sitting next to Ozzy, who gave me a look that earned him a kick in the shin, making him flinch and Drix smile. Thrax sat at the head of the long table, the room a dull white with a grey floor, a standard meeting room.

Only Maria sat on the other side, Chief on the end of my side next to Drix. Thrax cracked his neck before beginning,

"I saw two germs walkin' into some shady-lookin' warehouse, talking about Pox and some meeting he was having. Didn't think anyone'd get there in time, so I went in solo..."He paused a second, not looking at me behind the shades, but the words motioned towards me, "Which probably wasn't a good idea, but I couldn't really think right at the time, Pox right there an' all. Anyways, I looked through this glass ceiling and he was havin' some sort of meetin' for interested henchmen, talkin' 'bout how he was gonna nail this big score in the heart."

"Ha! Betcha you'd have learned more if you'd gone in there like I did."Ozzy bragged, and this time both Drix and I slapped the back of his head, sending his face into the table. Thrax sat back and I could see him glaring at the white-blood cell from under his shades, continuing icily,

"As I was saying, he's plannin' on pullin' something in the Right Atrium. Said somethin' about blowin' it up."

"But that's where the city get's its oxygen! If that goes, the entire city shuts down in minutes, let alone the kind of damage it'll do to the brain if we even get the heart back up in time. If we let him do that, then..."Maria paused, not wanting to say what was on all our minds, the sudden danger of this situation.

"Did you get how or when he's supposed to pull something like this?"Chief asked seriously, Thrax leaning forward and saying,

"It's supposed to go down tomorrow, but I didn't get anythin' else..."We all deflated, me biting my lip and Maria shaking her head frustratedly. If all we knew was that he was going to blow up the Right Atrium tomorrow, then the bombs could already be there. And that was if he didn't decide to just do it tonight, knowing now that Thrax found him.

"Would he move his plans up?"I asked, voicing my concern, "You know, because he knows you know now." Thrax got this look across his face, sitting back and combing back his hair tiredly.

"Nah...I think he expected one of us to show up."He said, "He wanted us to find out."

"But why? Wouldn't that just lure us there?"Drix asked, and I saw Thrax's jaw tighten a bit, worry twisting in my gut. Something about this was off...

"That's the point, he wants us to go there...he wants to take something from us."He explained, and I froze. A chill ran down my spine, stiffening and looking down at the table, eyes focusing down and seeing all the reflections of those around me in the shiny metal. Ozzy looking at Thrax suspiciously, rubbing the back of his head. Drix, looking concerned. Chief, face serious and gruff, all his years on the fource weighting suddenly on his features and dragging them down. Maria, face stern and serious as always.

Thrax, looking forward at no one.

"What's he wanna take?"Ozzy asked. Thrax looked at me in the reflection of the table, eyes showing through the darkness of his shades, a look telling me something I already knew. And, suddenly, all faces turning towards me, and I'd never wanted to run so badly in my life...

And yet, at the same time, I'd never been so firmly in place.

"So, what are we gonna do about it?"I asked, combing my hair back and looking up at all of them, one-by-one, their surprised and conflicted faces meeting mine, until I got to Thrax. There was a starring contest between us, him giving me a warning glare, me almost copying one right back. A look telling me to back off, that he wasn't about to let me go into the heart with Pox doing who-knows-what to get to me.

A look telling him that he was the one who told me to take a breather. To stop running. And I wasn't about to go back on that promise. There was a heavy silence as we talked, just looking at each other and locked in an angry battle. Him trying to protect me, and me done with people trying to save me.

"Iris."

"Thrax." I responded, both our tones plain and simple, the rest around us looking on confused. It was just us, waiting for the other to back down, and it sure as hell wasn't gonna be me. He narrowed his eyes and I narrowed mine more, locked, the room silent, no words and yet we understood exactly what the other was saying. And, finally, Thrax conceeded.

He blew out a breath and sat back, waving me off tiredly and saying,

"Fine, damnit. It's your funeral."

"Yo, I miss something?"Ozzy asked, but I ignored him, combing back my hair and asking,

"So now what? How do we fight against something we know nothing about?"

"...Actually,"Thrax said, brightening up a bit, "I think I got our solution." I looked up at him expectantly, but he said nothing. Instead, he just stood up and fixed his shades, Maria narrowing her eyes at him as I stood, asking,

"Well? You wanna tell us?"

"Just follow me, baby...no cops allowed."Thrax added, looking back at the group as they all stood up. Maria instantly shouted, hands on her hips and inching a finger towards her gun warningly, making even me tense up,

"Oh yeah? Who says? You think I'm just gonna let you go solo after that stunt you just pulled?"She demanded, Ozzy stepping up and crossing his arms.

"Yeah, and why should I let you be alone with my little Iris after what you did to her!"He demanded, me shooting bright red again and looking straight at the floor, cursing Thrax in my head.

"I hate you all.."Thrax groaned, and I looked up a bit, seeing him rubbing his temples before pointing to the rest with his claw, face slack and serious as he said, as if speaking to children, "Listen, I know someone who deals with this kinda thing. Nothin' ticks in this city without being touched by 'im. Not exactly straight-laced shit like y'all got goin' on here.

"So if I barge in with a squad of Immunity, I don't think I'll be getting the info I need. So how 'bout this: Iris and I go down there, find out what Pox got from the place, and I'll ring you up with any information I find, hm?"

"Hey, I don't like-!"

"Alright." I looked over at Maria, surprised that she was the one to go with Thrax's plan. Ozzy gaped, Maria having interrupted him, and exclaimed,

"Alright?! Did you not hear what just came out of that viral mother's mouth?!" Maria sent him a glare and narrowed her eyes, shrugging and saying begrudgingly,

"He's right. If this person can get us more information on Pox, then we have to take every measure to make sure this goes through without any complications. Besides," And at this she looked at me, smirking, "Iris is gonna be with him to keep him in line."

"What makes you think-" I slapped Thrax in the stomach, winking back at Maria secretly as I took his arm and turned him.

"We'll call you guys right after. I'll remember this time."I promised, turning as Thrax opened the door.

"No...'distractions'...this time!"Maria called, and I froze, blushing a bright red as Thrax turned and smirked over his shoulder.

"Can't promise-"

"Thrax!"I shouted, punching him in the back and knocking him forward, embarrased and irritated as I slammed the door shut behind me, walking past Thrax and shaking my head. I was never going to live this down, _ever_.

_Thrax's p.o.v****_

I kept a narrow eye on all the creeps slinking around the club, black-lights flashing in rhythm with the barely-audible music, too many shouts and cat-calls echoing throught the black walls of the darkened club. While she may not exactly be 'part' of this crowd, Iris seemed to fit in with the teenagers her age, all of them wearing almost the same thing just ten times more revealing, none of them getting in here with real IDs. Luckily, the bouncer recognized me and let us through with just a nod and a look at Iris that almost had him a new spine arrangement.

But, with the hungry eyes cast her way as we continued to make our way through the club, keeping close to the emptier area near the bar with just a few men sitting there, too involved in their drinks to notice, she didn't seem to care. In fact, she kept her eyes focused forward the whole time, and it wasn't until we got about halfway through that I realized why.

The kid had nearly had a heartattack when I got close to her the first time. Reasonably, she'd been alone for twelve years. Crowds and personal contact must not be her thing.

I saw one of the guys in the crowd eyeing her so obviously that she stiffened, and I slid an arm around her waist, pulling her to my side so that I could feel her hip against my leg. The man looked up at me with almost an angry, irritated look, but I sent him back a glare so territorial that it was almost a silent promise to rip him a new face if he even thought about touching her.

Smartly, he dodged back into the crowd, and I felt her relax again. But I didn't let go, liking the feeling of her skin cooling mine, after having gotten over the odd sensation that it brought. I wasn't used to not being entirely warm, having any spot she touched chilled for awhile afterwards, but it wasn't too bad of a feeling. I could still feel part of my stomach that was colder than the rest, a part she'd touched, kissed, in a moment where I'd accepted my complete loss of sanity.

If I'd have been told that this all would happen when I first laid eyes on her, I'd have laughed and brushed it off. Now, though, looking back at the progression of these past few days, I should have seen this shit coming. 'Course, if I had, I mighta run faster than she ever could. Now that I had no choice, though, this...whatever it was, felt right.

I knew the word for it. I'd be foolin' myself if I said I didn't, but...it wasn't something I'd let myself say. Let myself admit even to myself. Because it would be the final step to admitting this change in the solo part of my life, the part that played a major role in how I did things, and I wasn't ready to let go of that part yet...yet.

"Where's he?"She asked over the pounding of the music, and I nodded towards a door at the end of the bar walkway.

"Right in there, baby."I mused back, not knowing if she could hear me as I led us to the door. I paused, raising the claw and tapping on the door three times. A voice from behind it said something, but it was too muffled in all the noise. I rolled my eyes and snapped,

"I can't hear you and you know it! Open the damn door!"

It took a second, but the heavy metal door soon swung inwards. Inside, leaning on the door with one hand and the other on a revealed hip, was my special arms dealer.

"Shoulda known it was you, you asshole."The female virus said in a sleek and seductive voice, a black half-shirt and mini skirt with a big, metal belt contrasting against the light purple skin, showing off a flat stomach and long legs. Damn, I could remember times when this she-virus shot me down when I really needed info or something to get rid of a pesky snitch.

Her violet eyes smoldered under long, wavy black hair, currently falling onto Iris, who I'd had to let go of to knock. She got a rare, kind smile, the kind of thing Iris seemed to pull out of everyone, and asked,

"And who's this cute little thing? Ain't you a bit too pretty to be hangin' around the Big Bad Wolf?" She leaned down and brushed her hand through Iris's hair, making me raise an eyebrow and twitch a bit, suddenly wanting to pull Iris back to me. Iris only looked a bit curious, too damn innocent for her own good, as she said,

"I'm Iris."

"Pathogina. Call me Gina."Gina winked, and trailed a finger to Iris's chin, tilting her head up a bit as I tensed even more. Damn, if that woman's eyes could get more suggestive they'd need a warning sign. Even Iris finally blushed, the red spreading across her face that was, on any other occasion, amusing. "Ha, this one's pretty cute. I like her, c'mon in."She said, finally straightening up and giving me a wink. I glared and asked,

"This why you never respond to any of my negotiations?"

All I got was another wink, which explained a damn lot, and she took Iris's hand to pull her into the dark room. I scowled, following after and flicking on the light switch, turning on a dull bulb on an old brown desk situated near the end of the broom-closet like room. I slammed the door shut behind me with my boot, still glaring as Gina let go of Iris's hand to move around her desk and sit in a black office chair, turning it sideways and crossing her legs, leaning an elbow on the desk as she smiled mischeviously at me.

"So, what brings you my place of buisiness, hm?"She asked, me moving back next to Iris with my hands in my pockets.

"I need info on a recent client of yours."I mused, the urgency in my chest not reflected in my voice, knowing that Pox was out there right now with whatever Gina made for him, just waiting for us. She raised an eyebrow and asked,

"And why should I tell you, huh?" I tensed my jaw in anger, not in the mood for this minx's little games. I slid my left hand out of my pocket, letting the claw hang out warningly as I threatened,

"'Cuz you ain't gonna like it if you don't." Maybe the only woman in the world who wasn't intimidated, Gina shrugged and sat back in her chair, pulling out a cigarette from a drawr in the desk and a lighter, lighting up and blowing the smoke out through a ring of dark purple lipstick.

"You gonna have to try harder than that, Thrax."She mused, and I tensed more.

"Damnit, Gina! This ain't some game, I need info, now!"I shouted, and she just laughed and closed her eyes, tilting her head back and taking a puff.

"Sweetie, learn how to treat a lady."

"You ain't no lady."I muttered under my breath, combing my hair back as Iris got a look in her eye, like she just got some idea.

"Now how you think you're gonna get anything outta me with that attitude, huh?"Gina asked, looking at me as I lit my claw, ready to send this place up. I was tired and seriously pissed-off, not needing her games right now. I opened my mouth to talk, but Iris spoke before me.

"He's just cranky right now. Can I make a deal?"She offered politely, and I looked down at her surprised. Gina raised an eyebrow and snubbed out the cigarette on the desk, smiling slyly.

"She's got some manners, clearly hasn't been hangin' around you for long. Sure thing, sweetie, what you got in mind?"She asked, and Iris walked around the desk without saying anything. I watched, an eyebrow raised as Gina laid an arm across her waist, one resting on the arm of the chair. I was prepared to see Iris whisper something to her, bring her in on some inside joke at my expense that would at least get us what we needed.

What I wasn't expecting was for her to put a knee up on the edge of the chair and lean forward, hands on the arm rests as she pressed a long, still kiss on Gina. I gaped, eye twitching and completely frozen, jaw dropped as I tried to figure out if I was jealous, pissed, or turned on.

It lasted only three seconds, Iris pulling away and standing up, looking like nothing had happened with eyebrows raised, an innocent, out-of-place look on her face as Gina paused and raised her own eyebrows. Finally, after a second or two a smile formed on her lips and laughed, shaking her head. She looked over at me and pointed to Iris, me still gaping with wide-eyes, unable to process what I just saw unbelievably-innocent and shy Iris just do.

"She's a keeper."Gina mused, and then pat a spot on the desk, Iris childishly hopping up and sitting there, combing her hair back from her indifferent face. "Alright, whadda you wanna know?"Gina asked, me blinking a few times to get my senses back and form words.

"Pox. You sold him something on the explosive side, and we need to know what it was and how to disable it."I managed out, Gina raising a curious eyebrow, but going on without explination needed. Apparently it was a better kiss than I thought.

"Yeah, sent one of his muscle guys to order a pretty intense piece of work. Took me three damn days to make without blowing my own place up. See, the thing's pretty docile when it's implanted into a computer, but until then it's like a landmine."She explained, and Iris asked,

"Computer?" Gina smiled up at her and leaned back, saying,

"Yep, it's more of an electronically detonated kinda thing. A specific set of numbers will activate the timer, but they'll also deactivate it. Might have left that part out when the big guy tried somethin' funny on me. Wasn't a charmer like you, sweetie."She winked, and Iris chuckled a bit, clearly wanting Gina to go on as much as I did so I could pull out of this awkward, uncomftorble situation.

"You put that thing into a computer and press that set of numbers and you've only got about five minutes before it takes out a space about the size of this club."She explained, and I grit my teeth. Five minutes, and he wouldn't even think to start it until he knew he had Iris. It gave us time, but took out the idea of getting Iris out of here. He learned she was gone, and he'd still blow this place...not that it mattered. So long as she was okay, why did I care?

"...Hey, I like you, but I also wanna keep doin' buisiness here."Gina said, suddenly serious as she reached in the drawr of her desk and pulled out a slip of paper. "This here is the code you need to deactivate that thing he'd plannin' on using, so do what you want with it. Kay?"She asked, and Iris gave her a happy smirk, reaching down to take the paper.

Gina moved before she could, reaching up and pulling Iris down towards her, bringing her lips to Iris's ear and whispering something that made Iris blush so hard even her back turned a bit red. Gina slipped the paper into the back of Iris's bra, lightly snapping it in place and leaning back. I could feel my claw twitching in anger, Iris jumping down from the desk and clearing her throat.

"Thank you. Oh! Wait a second."She turned and went back to Gina, pulling out a piece of paper and writing something down, tearing it off and handing it to her, folded. Gina opened it and raised an eyebrow. It wasn't something like a phone number, because Gina looked more curious than amused or intruiged, Iris leaning down and whispering something to her.

Gina's eyes rolled over to me for a second, and suddenly I wanted to know what was on that piece of paper, narrowing my eyes as Iris straightend back up. Gina looked from the note to Iris, and then nodded.

"Alright kid, you go it. Now go stop that creep, got it?"She said, and Iris nodded, smiling and turning, walking back towards me. She passed me without a look, getting to the door and opening it, me next to her as Gina called back,

"Hey kid." Iris turned back, and I looked down at her as Gina said, seriously, "Be careful." Iris just offered a nod and a smile, then walked out the room. I paused, confused as to what just happened, looking back at Gina for a second. But she was already turned away from me, sliding the paper back in her pocket.

I could already feel the looks Iris was getting, and shut the door without further word, turning and catching up to her quickly, re-wrapping my arm around her waist.

"What was in that thing?"I asked, and she shrugged.

"Nothin' you have to worry about. Now remember to call Ozzy and the others."She changed the subject fast, me a bit too tired to question her any further. We were drawing towards the door, and I could see just how dark it was getting, having to be around eleven or midnight by now, and I was aching to get home and grab some shut-eye.

We got outside, everything seemingly quiet compared to the eardrum-damaging noise in the club, the cool air brushing by as I slid into the car, Iris on the other side. Without needing her to tell me twice, I pulled out my cell and leaned back, fishing in my pocket for the keys as a darkness settled around us.

Three rings and a somewhat-frantic voice answered the phone.

"Thrax? That you?"

"Who else?"I asked, irritated.

"Yo man, what'd you find out? Is it dangerous? We need to act fast? How big of an explosion is-"

"Cool it!"I snapped, finding the keys and holding them for a second, taking in a deep breath as I tried not to rip Jones's head off through the damn phone. Finally, after I'd cooled down a bit, I explained to him what we'd found out, about how the bomb was electronically detonated and that Pox probably already had it in place. About how it only took five minutes to count down, and less than that to shut down the whole damn city.

"Why the hell are we sittin' around then?!"Osmosis yelled, me holding the phone away from me and rolling my eyes, glaring at the screen as his voice travelled through the car, frantic like a little kid. "Pox could set that sucker off at any second! We gotta get down there!"He continued, and I took the small pause he had to breathe in and interrupt him.

"Jones! He ain't gonna set nothin' off while Iris is still here!"I snapped at him, and he shut up real quick. I took in the silence for a second before continuing, "He wants to make sure he's got her before he blows this place. Twelve years lookin' for something and he ain't gonna let it go out like a light. More likely he'll wait until we're in the heart and almost to him, expectin' to distract us with his muscle or somethin' while he grabs her..."

"...Yo Thrax."

"Hm?"

"...If Iris sleeps in tomorrow, I ain't asking any questions..." I paused, and for the first time almost felt myself relate to Jones. Iris meant a whole lot to the both of us, and just the fact that he was thinkin' the same thing as I was, the only way to keep her safe, leavin' before she woke up...damn, she'd be pissed. Probably wouldn't forgive me...but she'd be alive. I'd just have to wait and see what happened tomorrow.

I sighed and said,

"Yo Jones, anyway, since we got some time on our hands I say we all get some sleep. Early tomorrow we meet up and hash out what we're gonna do, then go light that asshole up like a Christmas tree. Whaddaya say?" I couldn't believe I was having a legit converstation with Jones and not ripping his head off.

"Sounds good to me. Oh! Put Iris on, I wanna say hi!" Damn little kid... I looked over to Iris, to see if she had any idea of what we were talking about and actually a bit surprised that she hadn't added anything in...

I felt a smile creep onto my mouth, trying to hide it from Jones as I said lightly,

"She's a little beat. Tell her tomorrow." With that, I snapped the cell shut and slid it into my pocket, turning and starting up the car as quietly as I could. As I started down the road, I reached over and pulled the rarely-used seat belt across Iris, who was curled up with her feet on the seat and her head resting sideways on the back, facing me and sleeping quietly. I buckled her in and chuckled, shaking my head and muttering,

"What the hell you doin', Thrax?"

I rode the rest of the ride in silence, laughing at myself on the inside, until I pulled up to the apartement. I slid out the car and walked around, unbuckling Iris and picking her up carefully, carrying her up the stairs and to the door. I opened it with my shoulder, walking in and shutting it calmly with my foot as she moved a bit in my arms, making one of those little noises again that she almost made earlier tonight.

I remembered it, remembered the heat and cold mixing, her body fitting almost perfectly with mine, her lips with mine, and damnit it sounded like something out of a shitty teen romance book. But it was true, and I wasn't one who was known to be good with words. I made my way over to the bed and pulled the covers back with a knee, setting her down just as she woke up, eyes opening sleepily. And there it was again, that sleeply, unprotected look, and this time I knew exactly what to do with it.

I removed my jacket and threw it over her with the covers, one knee on the bed as I combed her hair back, sliding my hand down and cupping her cheek. I leaned down, feeling the slight chill of her face compared to mine, and kissed her lips gently. And damn me if the second we connected I didn't want more, but I knew that she was too tired, and there would be time for that later. I'd make sure of it, if nothing else, that we'd have forever for it.

So, begrudgingly, I pulled back, the softness and chill still dancing across my face as I kicked off my shoes and slid in next to her, pulling off my shirt and throwing it somewhere on the floor. She yawned and moved back a bit, but I reached forward and said quietly,

"Hey now, don't you pull that on me." She looked up at me sleepily and curiously, and I understood why. It almost seemed kinda funny how I'd woken up not 24 hours ago with her pulled to me and instantly pulled away, no matter how much I liked it, as if my pride mattered more than her. Then again, 24 hours ago, it did.

Now, all I wanted was to feel her near me, to know that my girl was safe with me, that no one else had her. Not Gina. Not Pox. Nah, she was mine, and it'd stay that way. I pulled her to me, wrapping both arms around her and feeling her small body against mine. I chuckled a bit as I felt a cold hand ghost along my chest, remembering her eyes over me, the red that tinted her face looking like a reflection of my skin against hers. Remembered how she made me cold and flushed at the same time, the only person to ever make me do that ever.

"Thrax."She whispered groggily, nuzzling her head almost insistantly under my chin.

"Yeah, baby?"I asked, trailing my claw along her back, feeling her relax against me.

"Don't think you're leaving tomorrow without me, you asshole."She whispered, adjusting herself and then falling quiet. I looked down at her, surprised for a second and sure she'd been asleep in the car. Then again, maybe she'd known all along. I wouldn't put it over her, and somehow it only made me feel that feeling towards her even more.

Sooner or later, I'd have to come to grips with it. Sooner or later, but not now. No, right now was too good, too sweet to ruin with something like that. To ruin with thoughts of what was coming in a few hours. Nah, I'd enjoy these last few moments I was gonna have with her until all hell broke lose and we fought not only for the city, for our lives, but also for the only thing I cared about.

For Iris. For the first time, not for me. I settled down, breathing out right before I fell asleep myself,

"The whole solo shit was gettin' old, anyway..."


	11. Chapter 11

_-Will be a short chapter, simply because the next chapter is the last one. Enjoy!-_

_Iris's p.o.v****_

I pulled the covers up to his shoulder, looking for a moment as he slept with his arm laying out in front of him, the arm I was under when I'd woken up an hour ago. I smirked a bit, knowing that he would never wake up to his phone anyway, so I left myself an alarm. He'd be pissed, maybe, and probably a bit embarrased that I'd outsmarted him, but I could deal with that. So long as he didn't ditch me because he thought it was too dangerous, that was fine with me.

In all sense, his plan was much better than mine. They go in there, get Pox, and he never sets off the bomb because he doesn't want to destroy what he's been searching for for twelve years. And there were times this past hour when I felt guilty, guilty because I was putting everyone in harm's way, guilty because my plan was the way it was simply for self-indulgence.

I wanted Pox. I wanted to be the one to fight him, to see his face when I destroyed everything he worked so hard for, to see if maybe he'd have that desperate look in his eye that my mother had when she heard the men banging at our door, the dread of knowing that everything he loved was about to fall no matter what he did. And I didn't know what Ozzy and the others planned to do with him. But I knew what I was going to do.

I was going to make sure he didn't do this to another family, ever again.

I sighed and combed back my hair, yawning a bit and walking away from a sleeping Thrax, never admitting how cute he looked when his face scrunched up during a dream or when he curled up a bit.

"Like a big baby..."I chuckled to myself, teasing him as I opened the door to the kitchen. I didn't know what the plan was, having actually fallen asleep at the end of the phone call Thrax took last night after meeting Gina- one of the oddest experiences of my life. I assumed that the group would call when they wanted to meet up, and seeing as how it was around four in the morning, I was confident they'd still be sleeping.

I walked into the kitchen, stomach growling and realizing that I hadn't eaten since Ozzy got everyone pizza, on Drix, two days ago. I opened a cabinet and frowned, finding nothing but a bag of coffee grinds and a coffee maker. 'Maybe Ozzy will want some' I reasoned in my mind, taking it down and filling the machine with water. While I waited for it to heat up, I walked around the kitchen and scourged it, looking for legitimate food.

It took awhile, but finally I found bread that didn't look expired somewhere in the back of a cabinet and a toaster that looked like it probably came with the apartement(not that I assumed Thrax would have actually bought this place, having stopped wondering where the previous owner had gone a long time ago). With some butter and jelly laid out, I started making breakfast, something that felt so insainly normal considering the events about to take place, and the place in which I was making it.

I shook my head, not believing the incredible turn of events my life had taken in just over a week. There was a deadly virus sleeping in one room, a group of Immunity that I was going to meet with later, and another virus that wanted to make my life a complete living hell. I went from a runner to someone who was standing against their own personal hell. And I only had one person to blame for this utter change of events.

Three knocks on the door stirred me from my thoughts, and I walked quickly from the kitchen and into the bedroom, casting a glance over to see if Thrax was still sleeping before stopping at the door. I got up on my tip-toes to look through the peep hole, and the second I got the visitors into view I felt a soft smile on my face. I got back down and opened the door, smiling down as the two germs from the hospital stood, jumping a bit in surprise as they looked up at me. Sneeze and Sniff, I remembered their names being.

"Hey guys, what's up?"I asked quietly, leaning on the doorframe. The taller and thinner of the two, Sneeze, looked into the room curiously and asked in a snuffed-up, shaky voice,

"Oh, Iris! Um, is boss in here?...Oh, um, I mean Thrax, we just call him boss you know? Cuz we work for him? And I mean it's great and he's a really nice guy...well, except when he gets angry...but ya know that's just uh...I'm Sneeze!"He was trembling, the adorable little thing, and I could help but chuckle.

"Yeah, you're the two from the hospital, right? I remember you guys helping me get there I think. I owe you two one."I smirked, and the shorter and fatter one, Sniff, beamed brightly and pointed to himself, saying,

"I'm Sniff!" I chuckled, shaking my head and wondering how Thrax's short temper hadn't killed these two goofballs yet. There must be something about them that he liked, too.

"Hey Sniff. Yeah, Thrax is here, but he's sleeping. You guys need something?"I asked, and they nodded quickly, this time talking in ridiculous whispers,

"Oh, we just wanted to check on him! We haven't heard from him in a long time, and we got concerned, ya know?"Sniff said, standing nervously. I raised my eyebrows, looking at them surprised. These two... Most henchmen would move on if they didn't hear from their bosses for over a week, just suspecting them to be dead, and wouldn't even give it a second thought...let alone coming to check on them.

And then I realized what it was about these two that made Thrax keep them around. They might be mildly useless and goofy, but they weren't your average henchmen. They were loyal, no matter how bad Thrax treated them. And that thought, coupled with how adorably nervous these two looked outside the door in the still-dark hours of the morning, made me step back and motion them inside, whispering,

"C'mon inside, I've got toast and coffee."

"Oh! B-but Boss...I mean Thrax...he never let's us in!"Sneeze whispered, scared. I looked back, making sure Thrax was still fast asleep, and then turned back to the two with a wink and a sly smile.

"But I'm lettin' you in. Trust me, I wont let him go all Big Bad Wolf on you guys, kay?"I said, and they cast each other uncertain looks quickly before, once I stepped further aside, hopping a bit in happiness and quickly scuttering inside. I shook my head, smiling, and shut the door behind Sniff, Sneeze standing awkwardly in the center of the room and trembling, looking scared at Thrax as if he'd wake up any second now.

"C'mon, I'll get you guys some plates."I said, ushering them through the door and into the living room, where it took some coaxing to even get them to sit on the floor at least. I made them both toast, deciding that they were jittery enough without coffee, and set the plates on the table just as another knock came on the door. I stood up, sighing and walking suspiciously back to the door.

Thrax never got visitors, and I didn't assume Pox would come to the front door to get me...but there was always that fear. So, before I even thought of opening the door, I looked through the peephole... But I didn't really need to, a shrill voice coming loudly from the other side.

"Yo, Big Red! Let us-" I threw open the door and slammed a hand over Ozzy's mouth, his eyes widening a bit as I whispered harshly,

"Thrax is sleeping. I don't think you want to be the one to wake him up. Now come in- _quietly_." Ozzy nodded quickly and I took my hand away, stepping back as he, Maria, Drix, and Chief filed in. Chief quietly shut and locked the door, me looking over and actually kind of amazed that Thrax was still out, before turning back to the rest and motioning them forward with my hand.

"Why are you guys here? I thought you'd call."I whispered, the group casting odd looks at Sniff and Sneeze as I rounded back into the kitchen, starting to make toast and coffee as I said quietly,

"They work for Thrax. They're nice guys. Now what's up?"

"Well,"Ozzy said, slightly above a whisper and plopping down on a big chair, Drix floating with Maria sitting on the arm of Ozzy's chair, Chief in the last chair, leaving the couch open for me and, whenever he woke up, Thrax, "We figured Thrax wouldn't answer his phone when we wanted to meet, so we kinda decided to just drop in...sorry."He added feebishly as Maria elbowed him out of the corner of my eye.

"It's all good, I've been up for awhile,"I cast Ozzy a knowing look, and he gave me a weak smile, "Who wants toast before we start?"I asked, everyone raising their hands, even Sneeze and Sniff for seconds. I began to make everything while they all talked.

"Nice place Thrax's got here, wonder who he stole it from?"Drix asked, so comically sincere that I almost laughed.

"Yo girl,"Maria called quietly as I worked on some coffee, feeling odd making food for someone who wasn't me, let alone a group, "We never did discussed that thing on your shoulder." I froze, almost spilling the coffee as I looked over at her helplessly, really not wanting to talk about it now. Mainly because discussing my feelings was not only something I wasn't great at or embarrasing, but also because I wasn't completely sure I even wanted to admit to myself what this whole thing was.

There was always that four-letter-word, but...I wasn't sure. No, that wasn't true. I was _too _sure. Too sure that that's what this was...and so much more. I mean, Thrax and I didn't exactly have a typical romance story going on here, and what we had seemed to run deep out of struggles, crime, death, and a bond that we both wanted to deny from the very start. We were two very dangerous people who had none of the typical boy-meets-girl scenarios going on, and in some way that we'd never admit, we were both so incredibly changed by the other that we became entwined in each other's life.

So much so that if one left, they never would really leave. Because there would be that scar on our lives, that brand seared into the flesh of our mind, that would never go away. And for what was about to happen, that was drastically important. If anything happened to the other, that pain would leave a scar that was both wonderful and terrible at the same time.

It lasted little over a week, and this was no Romeo and Juliet story. It wasn't love at first sight, and there would be no double suicide in the end. Because we both had goals, and we were going to keep running towards them until the very end, just because the other wasn't there that wouldn't change anything. All of that put together, I wasn't exactly sure I could call it that four-letter-word. There was no term for what we had, and if Maria expected one I'd have to dissapoint her.

"I um...well..."

"Listen, I don't want to know the details. Discuss this at a damn sleepover or something."Chief ordered gruffly, and I never wanted to give that man a hug more than I did in that moment. Quickly, I got all the plates of toast and the mugs of coffee to each person, finally going back to make myself some as everyone began to eat quietly, Maria and Ozzy whispering something between each other and looking over at me every now and again.

I'd just taken two pieces of toast out when, suddenly, I felt two arms wrap around my waist, a groggy voice muttered into the crook of my neck,

"Breakfast." If there hadn't been an entire room of silently stunned and awkward Immunity officers next to us, and if he hadn't sounded still half-asleep when he said it, I might have punched him for the raspy-voiced demand. Instead, surpressing an embarrased blush, I turned my face a bit towards Thrax, whose face was still nuzzled into the crook of my neck, and gently elbowed him.

"Thrax, we got company."I said quietly, and suddenly he was wide-awake.

He jumped back and looked into the living room, face a mix of anger, confusion, and maybe a bit of hidden embarrasement, narrowing his eyes at the group who had...mixed reactions. Maria was glaring right back at Thrax, arms crossed, but with a bit of a mischevious look in her eye, an eyebrow raised. Chief looked like he'd rather be anywhere else in the world at the moment, focusing down on his toast as Drix had the same reaction, just with a bigger blush and more throat-clearing.

Ozzy just looked like he was trying to erase the image from his mind forever, slapping a palm into his temple and shaking his head quickly. Maybe the most entertaining was Sneeze and Sniff. Sneeze was sitting stunned and terrified under Thrax's glare, while Sniff got all glossy-eyes with his hands clasped under his chin, leaning on Sneeze who was elbowing him profusely.

"Who the hell let them in?!"Thrax demanded as I finished making the toast, raising the knife and saying nonchalantly, having gotten over the momentary bout of embarrasement,

"Me." I saw him spin towards me, giving me an incredolous look, as I made coffee.

"..._Why_?!"He finally exclaimed as I turned, pushing the plate and coffee into his direction. Calm-faced and seeing no reason for not letting them all in, I said,

"Because they knocked." He paused for a second, just looking at me like I'd read his diary to everyone, eyes wide and incredolous, borderline hostile and body tensed. Agreeably, I might have wanted to think about how Thrax would react to waking up with a room full of Immunity officers and his two adorable yet incompetent henchmen eating toast and drinking coffee. But really, it was his fault for never answering his phone.

Finally his face fell and he slouched his shoulders, frowning defeatedly and silently taking the plate and mug, turning without a word and walking over to the couch. I quickly made myself a slice of toast and walked to the couch, breaking the awkward, angry silence by asking,

"So, what are gonna do?" This was a question with too many answers, an no direct plan, the looks on everyone faces showing that they, too, had no idea how they were supposed to tackle this thing. For a moment we all sat in silence, me next to Thrax and chewing, thinking hard. The bomb was implanted into a computer, that was probably Pox's only attribute to the whole thing.

He might lack in deadly potency to the body, but his genius in how to infiltrate it was second to none. He was the one to implant the chip into the computer, so there was no way to get it out. Not that we needed to, right? We had the key to deactivate it, all we had to do was get to the computer that controlled the Right Atrium and type it in...

But that seemed too simple. There were bound to be obstacles in the way, like muscle men who were supposed to distract the others while Pox focused on me...unless we were somehow able to stop Pox first, then deal with his henchmen, and then deactivate the bomb. If we could just stop him from detonating it in the first place, wouldn't that work out much better? But how could we even do that? He'd be completely surrounded, right?...

"I can't think with Thrax's nakedness all up in my buisiness!"Ozzy suddenly whined, me understanding that Thrax had yet to put a shirt on. In fact, I was acutly aware of it.

"Jones, you're my damn apartement. I'll wear whatever I damn please, and lackthereof!"Thrax snapped back, me groaning and rubbing my temples. The last thing I needed right now was a fight, but with Ozzy and Thrax in the same room, that kind of thing seemed to be inevitable.

"We're only here cuz you don't know how to pick up your cell!"

"I know how! I just don't wanna listen to your bitchin' every damn hour!"

"Boys, stop!"

"Nah Maria, I swear the second we get to the heart I got half a mind to shove his red ass into the Viral Expulsion Tube."Ozzy mummbled, and I sat straight up.

"Wait, what?"I said quickly, and Ozzy gave me an odd look. All eyes were on me, but for the first time I didn't care. Right now, I had our plan.

"Huh?"Ozzy asked, and I shook my head, saying seriously,

"What was that thing you mentioned? The Viral something-or-other." Maria raised an eyebrow, but saw that I had something. She splayed out her hands and explained,

"The Viral Expulsion Tube, located in every control room of the heart. It's standard safety procedure in any heart, but since Hector was born without a heart disease it hasn't been used. It's purpose is that if any virus gets into the heart, they're shoved into there where a gas dissolves them. The tube then shoots out of the heart through the nearest pour and removes the remains of the virus from the body."

Thrax and I stiffened a bit, just the idea of something like that sending a shiver down my spine. But I quickly recovered, nodding and placing my plate on the coffee table, saying as I worked the details out lightning-fast in my mind,

"Would we be able to get Pox into that thing before he sets off the bomb?" Ozzy blinked quickly, as if he'd just thought about this.

"It might work,"Drix offered, "But the problem is that he will most likely have a detonation device on his person. Now, that being the case, if we even attempted to push him into the chamber then he could very well detonate the bomb, leaving us with no way to stop it."

"But Thrax and I have the deactivation code!"I exclaimed, excitedly. Surprised looks went my way, and I reached back, remembering that Gina had placed the paper in the back of my bra and struggling to reach it.

"Damn it, Gina."Thrax muttered, reaching back and pulling out the piece of paper for me. I took it, Ozzy asking curiously,

"Do I even wanna know?"

"Lesbian bomb technician. Long story."I waved off, his eyes going wide as I opened up the paper, a series of numbers written across it in neat handwriting. I paused a moment, reading over it, wondering if...if we were actually starting to have a legitimate plan. My heart beat picked up, mind racing as I thought, looking up and asking,

"How many of us would go?"

"Well, all of us."Maria said matter-of-factly, and I looked around, slightly surprised.

"But...it's just one virus. All of you are gonna put yourselves in danger like that?"I asked, sitting back a bit, genuinly surprised. This was by far the most dangerous thing I've ever done, but I couldn't imagine they'd been through things much worse. This was a super-genius virus with some of the strongest germs and a bomb that could destroy the city in minutes, "All because some virus wants me?"I finished, genuinly surprised.

I saw Maria smile, and I looked over at her, only to see Ozzy with the same smirk on his face. I tilted my head in confusion, wondering what was so funny, when Maria leaned forward and said,

"Hey, we wanted you with us. You think we didn't know your backstory when we asked you to help us against Pox? Hector yeah!" I raised my eyebrows in surprise, knowing that they'd known, but...

"Listen, girl,"Ozzy said smoothly, "We ain't gonna back down just because some big-shot virus wants our little girl, ya dig? Besides, this is our city! No one tries to bring it down without us putting up one hell of a fight, and that's exactly what we plan to do. Now, no more of this buisiness, what's your plan?"

I paused, looking around at all of them. They were the people I considered my family. The ones who trusted me when they had no reason to. The ones who gave me a second chance. The ones who made me laugh, made me feel like I really...almost belonged somewhere. I'd stopped for them. For myself. For Thrax.

Asking them wasn't trying to get a confirmation of their loyalty. It was me seeing how many of them I'd have to put in danger in order to defeat Pox. And, right now, all of them looked ready to face death in the eye, even Sniff and Sneeze. All for me. And I felt, deep down, that I was just as ready to die for them.

"Pox wont be in the same room as his muscle men."I began, everyone leaning forward, Thrax's eyes on me as I continued, "He'll assume that one of you will try to get into the computer room with me, since I'm the smallest and, even though I can take some of his men, I can't take all of them. That leaves him in the computer room with at least two bodyguards, maybe more if he expects Thrax.

"The Viral Tube-thing will be there too, but I doubt he'll even notice it with everything going on. While the bodyguards attack whoever's with me, Pox grabs me and presses the detonation button, making a quick getaway with all of us outnumbered and unable to get to the computer in time, and that's if he expects us to have the deactivation code. Five minutes later, Hector's gone."

"So how is that a plan?"Chief asked, and I got a half-smirk, not truly happy, but trying to lighten the mood.

"We don't let the second part of his plan happen. We ambush the first round of muscle-germs, and take them down quickly. That way Pox will think that two of us skipped out on the fight. Only me and someone else will enter first, acting like the others are still back fighting, and when the two or three body guards come out so do the rest of us. We fight them, maybe Pox detonates the bomb, but by that time we'll have taken care of the guys.

"One of us will deactivate the bomb while the rest of us manage to get Pox into the tube, closing it, and...well...the end."I offered, shrugging, looking around nervously and hoping that it was actually a decent plan, because honestly...that was all I had. There was a silence for a moment, and then Thrax leaned back, crossing his arms over his head and saying,

"Sounds good to me. Yo, we got more coffee?" I looked up at him incredoloulsy, not believing that we were trying to figure out a plan to go fight a major crime-boss and all he wanted was coffee.

"Oh, me too?"Drix asked politely, me looking at him with the same look.

"Forget that, man, hit me up with some toast!"Ozzy exclaimed, Thrax snapping back,

"Yo, none of y'all freeloadin' off my food! Go get your own!"

"Ugh, fine!"Maria groaned, me still sitting there dumbfounded, wondering if this was a joke. She stood up with the others, saying,

"We'll meet at the Ribcage in one hour. Yo, you two, come with us."Maria motioned for Sniff and Sneeze, who both immediatly stood, apparently used to taking orders from snappy and hostile people.

"You two behave!"Ozzy joked as he walked out, my jaw now almost on the floor as, just like that, as if nothing had ever happened, they all walked out and shut the door...

It wasn't until the front door closed that I exclaimed,

"What the hell just happened?!" I felt a hand slide along my neck, and I looked up, seeing Thrax giving me a sly half-smile. He leaned down and pressed a kiss on my forehead, resting his own head there as he muttered,

"You just came up with a plan to save an entire city. Don't sound like you're bein' a very good virus to me."

I looked up at him, wide-eyed and in wonder. Wasn't that what I'd just done? Was all of that really what happened? It all happened so fast I barely had time to process it, but...yes. Yes, that was it. An ambush, a trick, deactivating a bomb, and then killing Pox... As I looked up at Thrax, seeing into his eyes, I saw that we were both thinking the same thing.

And maybe that's why he kissed me again, harder, wrapping both arms around me and pulling me close to him, one hand gripping the back of my head and the other wrapped so tight around me that I almost felt like he was trying to keep me there. Maybe that's why I kissed him back, and maybe that's why we sat there for the next half an hour, just silent, thinking.

Because it was far too simple, and way too easy. And in case anything happened, we wanted to make sure that the other knew we'd be there for them, that we weren't about to let got the one person who was able to change our lives. Whatever happened after we defeated Pox, if it all worked out, neither of us knew. And it didn't truly matter.

Both of us knew how a perfectly laid-out plan could have one wild card that no one expected, and then completely change. Whether that change was good or bad, whatever that wild card was, it wasn't up to us. There was nothing we could do but prepare and go into this knowing that, whatever the outcome, we were going into it side-by-side. We were ready to die for this, whether 'this' was different for both of us or not.

Maybe me for Hector, for killing Pox, for saving my family. Maybe Thrax for his rep, for me. Either way, there was nothing we could do to know what we were heading into. And maybe if we did, we would never have left that couch. We never would have driven to meet the others. We would have sat there for a little while longer.

But we didn't know. And so we left, walking into a deadly unknown.


	12. Chapter 12

_-This will be the final chapter with a short epilogue at the end. I thank each and every one of you who have stuck with it thus far, and would like to hope that all of you enjoy this. Keep running.-_

_Iris's p.o.v****_

_'Ian?'_

_'Yeah, 'Ris?'_

_'Why do people die?'_

_'...Usually, because they made a choice. An' they stuck with it until the end.'_

__ "Iris, you ready?" Three words as I sat in the car, just starring out the dashboard at the crisp, clean, red building in front of us, red and blue tubes running up and branching off, supplies of oxygen and various other things going in an out. Everything working like it was any other day, as if everything about to happen was of no conciquence. It just kept going, because that's what it chose to do.

"No."I said in a monotone, feeling like I should be more afraid, nervous, _excited_ at least. All I felt was...peace. Strangely enough, as if I expected everything that was about to happen, and if some decision had been made and I wasn't aware of it.

"Perfect, let's go."Thrax said, and without a word I slid out of the car, slamming the door shut next to me. Silence wasn't something we were worried about. Pox knew we were here, anyway, and nothing really mattered until we got to whatever room he was using as a barrier before him. We had all the time in the world, and yet everyone seemed anxious to head into the building that, by orders of Chief, had been abandoned right after the meeting yesterday.

Maybe we just wanted to get this over with. I wasn't so sure. In fact, I wasn't sure about much right now, just that I wanted to get in there and get my hands on Pox. I wanted to do something for myself, not for my father's advice or my brother's wishes. I wanted to make a decision, and end something that had gone on for far to long. Something I'd been running towards for twelve years. If now was the time to stand, everyone was moving pretty fast.

Drix and Ozzy were standing side-by-side, Ozzy's gun pulled and Drix with his gun-arm cocked, just in case there were men spread about the building. Maria was copying Ozzy's at-the-ready stance, her own gun held in her slightly-shaking hands, something that was so slight only I would be able to see it. Chief had his own gun still in the holster, looking up at the heart with dark and serious eyes, eyes of a seasoned veteran who knew what he was getting himself into.

Even Sniff and Sneeze were here, but I'd made sure they were just guarding the cars to make sure no one tried to get away. I knew that they wouldn't last a second in what we were about to go into, and couldn't deal with throwing innocents into this, too. Thrax and I walked up to the others, both serious, everyone in a silent state of readiness and equal unpreparedness.

We'd gone over the plan over the phone maybe ten times, and each time we all knew that if one thing, one small thing went wrong, it could end very differently. And that thought hung heavily in everyone's eyes, but it was coupled with a severe determination to end this, once and for all. I stopped, thinking for a second as we all paused, just looking at each other as we gathered ourselves.

My 24 hours turned into 7 days. Looking around at everyone, I was suddenly damn glad that I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I arrived here.

"Well? What are you kids waiting around for, my retirement? Let's move!"Chief ordered gruffly, seeming to snap everyone out of our stupor. I nodded, and Ozzy looked into the glass doors we stood in front of, the inside dark and almost creepy-looking, but I was used to blackened abaondoned buildings. And this one was a hell of a lot nicer than the ones I'd been in.

Ozzy moved, the doors sliding open automatically as he and Maria entered first, quickly stepping aside as Drix floated in and sweeped around in a semi-circle, aiming his gun while Chief walked up behind him, everyone focused on the inside. I stepped forward, but Thrax didn't move, his hand wrapping hard around mine and pulling me around to face him.

He held me there with his look, nothing out of the ordinairy to most, but to me, who had spent so long looking into those eyes and straining myself to read them, there was something swimming behind the mask of toughness and anger. And that thing was worry. And a little something else, something I shared with him.

"Stay."

"No."

I felt like this was a precaution, his eyes travelling over my face, mine over his, over every sharp edge and smooth curve. As if something would happen to the other, and a promise that we'd do everything in out power to prevent that. He looked behind me for a moment, then to the side, making sure no one was watching or listening before moving closer to me, looking me dead in the eye as he squeezed my hand tightly, asking quietly,

"Iris, please. What the hell am I supposed to do if you...if he gets you? If this whole plan goes wrong and he takes you away from me. Screw the damn city, what'll I do?" I gave him a straight-forward look, no smirk or playful banter between us. What I said I meant, and it wasn't a request.

"You keep fucking running until you get there." There. In his eyes he knew I didn't mean any place. I didn't mean to me. I didn't even mean up to the Atrium. There, the place he'd been trying to get for years, the place that he'd been set back from by Ozzy and Pox. There, were he belonged. I wasn't going to stop him from going there, even if I wasn't going there with him. But inside me, I wanted to. After this was done, after I'd gotten to my 'there', I wanted to help Thrax get to his. That's why I couldn't let anything happen to him.

The others whispered behind me, and I squeezed his hand tightly before letting go.

I had to walk into this on my own, because it was something I'd started alone. He understood, and gave me a bit of space while still staying protectively close to me as, taking in a deep breath and still not feeling any of the things I'd expected to, I pushed into the room.

It was completely dark the second I stepped in, the others having moved ahead as I walked across the floor, footsteps echoing as Thrax stepped in behind me. Once the doors closed, it was like everything had been cut off. A silence that clogged our ears, the outside world a thing of the past, only unlit corners and silent, shiny surfaces.

We all paused in front of a dim stairwell, the elevator unlit and unusable, tense and waiting for the first attack. After what felt like hours, it never came. Just an unnatural silence and stillness of the air around us, nothing disturbing it but our soft and quiet breathing, the sound of our hearts pounding in our perked and alert ears. I looked forward at Drix, who made eyecontact with me as I nodded. He gave a small not back before turning to the stairs, quickly propelling up them.

Maria and Ozzy quickly followed, Chief in front of me and Thrax behind, climbing the stairs that instantly became so dark without a dim outside light that I tripped several times, almost falling clean backwards had Thrax's quick hand not steadied me in more ways than one. My hand felt along the wall, a crease and an evening telling me that we'd reached a floor.

This time, even I tensed, hands clenching into fists and instantly moving in the gap between Maria and Drix as we lined up in a curve, everyone ready for the oncoming attack of muscle-men and germs hiding in the shadows of the long hallway ahead of us, one green, dim emergency light in the center of the hallways illuminating the outlines of cookie-cutter doors within the Heart. We waited, Drix loudly cocking his gun as we all suddenly stiffened, the noise loud and alerting...

"...Maybe they're on another floor."Maria whispered, though our noise level wasn't the least bit concern, "Pox wouldn't put all his men spread out across every floor, even he can't have that many men...right?"She asked, and I paused. Lying wasn't going to fix anything now.

"I don't know. Thrax could have taken out a lot at the warehouse, but this...I just don't know. Maybe you're right...which one leads us up to the Right Atrium?"I asked quietly, and Maria pointed her gun to the door at the very end of the hallway, propped open by what I assumed was a doorstop in the dim, eerie lighting.

"We go up that stair case and then take an immediate right up another. There's one room seperating us from the Right Atrium..."Maria trailed off, all of us knowing where she was leading. One room with all of them. Not that we hadn't expected that, we'd just expected to face some ahead of time. At least this way we'd all be rested and unharmed...going into it, that is.

"There anyway to get into that room other than the stairwell?"I asked, and Maria nodded, walking quickly to a door four doors away from us.

"C'mon, follow me."She said, me now right behind her with Ozzy behind me, not looking back to see the others but hearing every pair of footsteps following us through the door. On the other side was a small platform, and then a long and and narrow bridge maybe hundreds of feet above the nearest surface, with no lighting other than four small, dimming blue lights a few hundreds of yards above our heads. I wasn't afraid of heights, having run across taller buildings than this structure pleanty of times.

Maria moved cautiously across it, me keeping a respectful distance so as not to worry her, my eyes looking all around. This seemed to be a location in the center of the heart, with multiple bridges identical to ours criss-crossing and streaching far away from one another, leading into identical doors on either side of the cylindrical structure. I followed Maria as we arrived on the other side, following through another door.

Instead of exiting out the door a little ways away from us, Maria stopped, turning and waiting for everyone with one finger pressed to her lips, the other holding the gun at the ready. Once everyone was inside, the space slightly cramped as I realized we were in what appeared to be a utility closet, Maria nodded her head to the door not in front of us, but to our side. I looked at it, pausing as our footfalls silenced and every noise became amplified.

For a moment, all was silent, and a worry twisted inside me that she'd chosen the wrong door.

And then a muffled voice, deep and dumb, followed by another. On the other side of that door. Everyone moved into a formation we'd discussed: Drix, Ozzy to his side, Maria behind him, Chief on her other side, me in the middle, Thrax completing the circle behind me. I tensed, Drix moving silently to the door, all of us following him in a unit, his gun lightly tapping the surface of the door.

I felt one claw trail across my hip in a calming, reassuring manner, right before the blinding blast and deafening bang that sent the door flying and the room erupting in echos. We moved before the germs on the other side could know what was going on, staying in a tight circle as we charged through the door and then, once Drix broke through the first line of germs filling the large, finally lit, red room, we expanded like a ripple in the water.

Drix blew past three germs, shouts as some of them understood what was going on followed by gunfire by Ozzy and Maria, Chief holding his own out of the corner of my eye as Thrax moved swiftly, taking out the ones who were standing on one side of the door and hadn't been injured by the blast. I turned, one germ barreling towards me in a blind rage, something I could use to my advantage.

I stepped sideways and, as he almost passed me, wrapped an arm around his throat like a sling and slammed my knee into his ribs, my strength combined with his momentum making him gasp and fall to his knees. I brought a leg up and crashed it down on the back of his skull, a sickening 'crack!' sounding out as he slumped face-first to the floor, me not even taking a moment to make sure he wasn't moving before a hand brushed the back of my arm, me spinning before the massive, hulk-like germ could grab a hold of me with his large, meaty fist.

I heard a massive explosion, probably from Drix, that visibly shook the room. It took the massive man's small attention, and I took the advantage. I brought a foot up and slammed it between his legs, the only way to level a man his size with a body my size. He cried out and his eyes watered, knees locking together as he slumped to them, me whipping a fist around and smashing it against his nose.

My hand exploded in pain, and I cried out a bit as the man didn't even flinch, looking like a fly landed on him as he shook his head irritatedly, the sound of a solid 'thud' sounding out somewhere near me. I stepped back as the man glared up at me, his giant hand suddenly shooting up and grasping my wrist so hard I was sure he was going to snap it right in half, clenching my teeth as I pulled my other hand back to try and do anything to get free...

A flash of red was all I saw before the man cried agonizingly out, a massive rip in his throat opening up and letting red, bubbling fluid coarse through his skin, releasing my wrist to slap a hand over it. He convulsed a bit and then fell to his side, cringing and, right before my eyes, becoming covered in the red boiling substance, shrinking down and melting until he was nothing but a puddle on the floor. A massive puddle.

A hand wrapped around my wrist, but this time it was gentle and guiding, turning me and instantly letting go, running a claw along the inside as Thrax, before me, asked,

"You hurt, baby?" I quickly shook my head and looked around, blinking quickly as I saw that everyone else was already done. Maria was wiping green goo off her shoulder, Ozzy shaking a shoe and Drix re-loading, Chief looking around and breathing heavily, almost as if he couldn't believe we'd actually succeeded.

There were bodies unconcious and unmoving all around us, some more-than-unconciouss and in puddles across the floor, seeing Thrax's path of destruction. They were all down and out, just like we'd planned...

So why did something feel off? I looked around, something twisting in my gut as a shiver ran down my spine. Something wasn't right here, something dark creeping along the joy I should have felt, something dark creeping over the atmostphere in the room. My heartbeat started to beat quickly for the first time, eyes narrowing as the dread fell like a rock in my stomach. Something was wrong, very, very wrong...but what?

I couldn't place it, tugging and pulling at my mind and heart as I knew something here wasn't how it should have been. Men lying on the ground, Pox somewhere near us, all of us intact. Everything looked just as I'd planned it...everything except how I was supposed to feel. Relieved, ready, excited, energized...but I couldn't. I just couldn't.

No, something wasn't _right, _ but I felt that if I said anything with everyone breathing sighs of relief without even knowing what was wrong, I'd just be worrying them for no reason. And maybe there wasn't a reason, maybe it was the nerves finally getting to me...but something inside me screamed that that wasn't it. Screamed that this wasn't how it should have been, and that we were walking into something terrible, more terrible than we could have imagined.

That the one thing that we all feared could go wrong was about to.

"What's wrong?"Thrax whispered so quietly barely I could hear it. I paused, looking around as Ozzy and Drix lightly bumped elbows, Maria standing against the wall and taking a breath, Chief just standing there and making sure everything on his gun was in place. All waiting for me and Thrax to walk through the door first. I shook my head and whispered back, equally quiet, barely a breath across my lips,

"Nothing."

I felt that he didn't believe me, but he didn't push it further. What I did notice was him moving closer to me as we walked across massive men to the door, pausing in front of it as the others filed in behind.

"There's a hallway behind this door, and then the door to the Right Atrium. You guys walk in, five seconds later we go in, body guards or no body guards."Maria ordered, and all I could do was not, that horrible sense of foreboding numbing me. Please just be nerves, please be nothing.

I pushed open the door and looked down the hall. All the lights were on. Almost like a welcoming. I shook my head silently and walked down the hall, Thrax right by my side, hand brushing my wrist, the others walking as quietly as possible. We were almost there, just a few more steps down the white hallway and we'd be in front of the door.

A big plaque on the front of it read 'Right Atrium: Authorized Personel Only'. We may be the most unauthorized personel possible, the irony of us entering in order to save the heart the only sense of comedy amoungst the sickening tightness of my chest, the twisting of my guts, the goosebumps and shivers along my arms and down my spine.

I stopped at the door. On the otherside, I feared that something horrible was waiting. I hoped that it was exactly what I planned. I knew it was the prior.

I placed a hand on the doorknob and leaned against it, ready to burst in like we'd just run from the battle that was finished so quickly, Thrax tensing beside me, the others plastered against the walls, guns raised. Five seconds was all we had to stand in there, just the three of us. Me. Thrax. Pox. And when we walked out, everything would have changed.

I turned the doorknob and threw myself into the room with all the strength I could muster.

...

...

It was large. But I didn't notice. There was a massive computer to the side, taking up the entire wall, but I didn't care. There was a clear tube with a red button on the floor in front of it, but I didn't know. I stood in the center of the room, Thrax next to me.

Four seconds.

Pox in front of me, black hair falling in his face, out of the ponytail, a black remote dangling lazily from his hand.

Three seconds.

"Oh good, I thought that might have actually killed all of you. What a waste that would have been."

Two seconds.

I realized what was wrong.

One second too late.

There was an explosion of noise behind me, and I whipped around to see the others bursting in, ready to fight the two body guards.

Only there weren't two.

There were twenty.

"No!"I screamed, the other's eyes widening as the door was slammed behind them, the army of massive men descending upon them and filling up the room as Drix, without missing a beat, blasted a hold in their wall. They moved quickly, spreading to the center of the room and beyond, everything thrown into instant chaos.

I turned, throwing my fist into the throat of a shorter man, grasping the back of his head and slamming it against the head of a man running at me from behind. Both fell to the floor as I looked ahead, seeing Drix fighting off five men at once. Spinning, ducking as a man sent a punch over my head and throwing myself into his gut, throwing him backwards and into the path of a stray bullet, falling to the floor like a rag.

A glimpse of Ozzy. A shout from Maria. A moving, pulsing, screaming, shouting sea of men and everyone. Thrax was gone, that I noticed quickly, pulled into the sea of men. Twenty. No...no...there couldn't be...but it was what made sense.

That's what was wrong. There weren't enough men in that room to make up Pox's gang. He wouldn't dare, not with everything on the line, act as he normally would. Only a truly insain man could change his behaviors on a dime. And Pox was beyond insaine. He was a genius. Something inside me broke, whether it was a heart or not was up for debate. Dread fell in my gut. Guilt ripped me apart.

This was my plan, and they'd followed it trustingly. I didn't know, I couldn't, and they'd trusted it. This was my fault. I didn't think. Didn't know. And now...now what was going to happen? Just one thing, and the whole thing could end so much differently... A gunshot tore through the noise, a scream, me spinning around rapidly and throwing men off me, fighting them, connecting with flesh that I didn't even distinguish from any other.

"Thrax!"I screamed, horror settling inside of me. This was it. This was the scene I'd missed so many years ago. My family fighting for me. Dying for me. A reply. The wrong voice.

"Not quite, dear."

I took in a breath to scream, to fight, to do something, but a hand so strong that I never would have guessed it's owner slapped over my mouth, fingers digging painfully into the side of my face as I was dragged backwards, feeling like a feather fighting a brick as an arm wrapped around both my arms and waist. I kicked, fighting and wiggling, not believing that this strength was from Pox, but that voice, that _voice, _ that was unmistakable.

We stopped, at the back of the room, me kicking his shins and yet him giving no sign of pain, not flinching, not even grunting. Like kicking a statue. Even his voice was calm, breath on my ear as he said quietly and yet very audibly,

"I'd stop fidgeting if I were you, my dear. I do believe I'm doing you a favor." I paused, eyes straying downwards at the arm that was wrapped around my waist, pinning me against a slight but strong frame. In a jaundice-yellow hand, held limply like a toy, was a black remote with one black button on it. A thumb rested comftorbly over that button.

I froze instantly, every part of my body screaming to not move and to fight for my life at the same time. He was here, holding me, touching me, breathing into my ear. The man that killed my family, the voice that ordered the death of my entire family, that ruined and changed my life forever. Right behind me, holding me with a strength that resembled the situation. Horribly, terribly underestimated. I looked forward, his hand covering my mouth and breathing heavily through my nose, body stiff and ridgid, eyes glued to the scene ahead of me.

An indistinguishable sea of bodies and fighting and gunshots and screams and thuds and punches and friends and enemies. A blur, really. The only clear thing, stark contrast against the rest of the room, the rest of the world, was his voice eerily calm in my ear.

"I must say, it was brilliant. Both your plan and mine. You make me so proud sometimes, Iris. Almost as proud as I was when you managed to escape me for twelve years...yes, it was infuriating, and I did miss you so. But a small girl running from me, succesfully? Astonishing and just...remarkable. Maybe that's what Thrax sees in you." I stiffened at his name, a name that shouldn't come from his mouth, an assumption he didn't deserve to make.

But I didnt' dare move, knowing that he was doing this because he knew he had me, because he knew I couldn't do anything until he got to the point.

"A girl with a certain defiance in her. You refused to quit, after all these years. So what made you change, dear? Was it him, afterall? Did he convince you that you could fight against me after all those nasty things I did? I assume that's the case...and quite noble. You tried heroicly to stop the man who killed your family...

"They didn't have to die, you know. If they'd have let me have you, they might have all lived on in their lives. But they loved you far too much...almost exactly like this group." I looked, eyes narrowed in anger that boiled in my veins, his words careful and articulate. He knew what he was saying. He was doing what he'd been trying to do for years. Break me.

"...How about this? Back then, you were far too younge to make your own choices. Your father made your choice for you, didn't he?" _'There's something I never want you to do from this day forth, sweetie, okay?' _ "He told you to run, and you did." A gunshot, Ozzy thrown hard against a wall. The scream of my mother instead of his. Too many men. Drix had the activation code, he was the only one who could stop this...

"But you don't have to let them die for you now." ...But he'd never reach it in time. "You could save them, just like you wanted to." They were fighting for me, the family I swore I'd protect. All of them, from the very start, taking in a stranger and risking their lives for me. And now they were going to die, no chance at stopping this bomb, even if the men didn't kill them first.

"You're able to make your own decisions, Iris."His voice was suddenly serious, as if he were giving me an actual choice. I saw my mother, standing in front of us with her chin held up in defiance. I saw Ian, fighting like it was what he was born to do, like an underdog about to go down swinging. I saw my father, taking on all of them, strong and standing as long as he could to let me get as far as I could.

"And I think you know which one will save everyone."

I saw Maria, fighting fiercely like I always knew her to. I saw Ozzy, wounded and still fighting like it was all he knew. I saw Drix, taking on so many men that it seemed impossible, and yet he stood his ground without wavering. Chief, fighting like the city was his child. My family. My second chance.

And, as I looked at all of them, watched them fight, memories flashing across my eyes from playing with Ian, to the grocery store, to arriving in Hector, to a red man with something about him, to a barter for a glove, to a hospital bed, to a conversation with Ozzy, to Maria fighting with Thrax, to my first kiss and more, to breakfast with the whole gang, to my father telling me to run, to a promise that they'd all fight together, with me, to getting here.

To a family photo.

And a choice was made. It wasn't my father's, it wasn't Ian's, it wasn't my mother's. It was mine. And I'd made it a long, long time ago.

I saw Thrax, standing up and flipping his dreads back like always, a flash of yellow eyes that held something so beautiful, so unique. A look of courage, of defiance against all odds. I looked at him as everything stopped, as if someone had paused the whole scene. I slid a finger under my left-hand glove and slid it off, letting it fall to the ground near my foot, landing on something red.

He was perfectly visible, and for the first time in what felt like a long time, I let a lopsided smirk fall onto my face.

"Hm?"Pox asked in my ear, amused as everything moved slowly. My family, fighting slowly. This time, for a reason. This time, it would end in my choice.

"I made a choice." Before he could respond, I slammed my foot down over the glove, onto the red button on the floor, and then shoved us backwards with a burst of final strength, slamming us back into a wall.

I looked until tube doors closed in front of us, smoke clouding my vision, a could of white.

A blur of red.

_Thrax's p.o.v****_

I cut one down, and it was like pulling a curtain away. The man fell and revealed an empty room, the final men being taken down almost instantly. It ended so quickly, after what felt like hours of fighting, my arm aching and lungs on fire. Maybe I was just too caught up in keepin' myself alive that I just didn't notice, looking over to see the pill rapidly typing numbers into the massive computer on the other side of the room.

Jones limped quickly over, Maria trying to support him with Chief wheezing somewhere else, all eyes on the computer screen, all of us waiting for the boom, for the fire, for what they imagined the destruction of a body looked like, for what I knew it looked like. It was a lot different being the one trapped inside it, every fiber of my being was screaming to get away.

But I felt that I'd have no time, the pill visibly sweating and panting as he typed with his one hand, the series of numbers on the paper in front of him long and complicated, one wrong one and he'd have to start over. One wrong one and we'd probably be out of time.

"Wait..."Jones said quietly next to me, and I looked over curiously, his brow furrowed and eyes wide.

"Jones?"I asked, but was interrupted as Drix flew back and exclaimed,

"Done!"...A silence...I looked at the computer screen, and saw exactly what Jones had seen.

"...The timer never even started."Maria said in a perplexed voice. Something like an icy dread fell in my stomach, the cause something I didn't care about, more the person that it reminded me of. I whipped around and shouted,

"Iri-"

...A heavy silence. I looked, looked, and looked, as if my eyes could see if I stared longer, as if I could make them appear. As if I could deny that no one was there, that the space where Pox had been standing was empty, and nothing else was moving. My first thought send a flame of fury through me, shouting,

"He took her!" The fury blinded me, enveloped me, something inside of me swelling and twisting as a new kind of heat spread across me, ready to rip that man limb-from-limb the second I got my hands on him, knowing he couldn't be far now. If I moved, I could find him, find her, save her-

"Wait...isn't that..."Maria trailed off, and I looked at her quickly, seeing her eyes grow wide. Her hand flew to her mouth as her jaw clenched, pressing her fingers to her lips hard, eyes wide. But it wasn't the look on her face that got to me. It wasn't the horror of realization that made my gut twist and every ounch of anger seep out of my body. It wasn't the sudden break of her hard shell that made everything I'd just felt seem like nothing compared to what I felt afterwards.

It was what she was looking at. I turned, following her line of sight, still panting...until I saw it. And then I wasn't breathing at all. Just looking, for a moment, and then moving slowly forward. Stiffly. Numbly. Someone held back Osmosis as he tried to follow, but I had tunnel vision, barely caring. Because I knew what it was. I got to it, looking down, and somehow ended up on my knees, reaching down and picking it up.

The soft black leather. The same glove I'd bartered information for with her. And then underneath it, the red button on the floor and the shoemark across it. And when I realized what Maria realized, I didn't want to. Wanted to hold myself together. Wanted to stop the breaking, the splintering, the sick feeling rising in my throat. Wanted to stop the pain threatening to rip through me. Wanted to deny it. Couldn't.

Because I looked up, and when I saw the pod gone and traces of smoke still clinging to the edges of the enclosed walls, I knew exactly what had happened, and no amount of lying to myself was going to change it.

And I fucking lost it.

I slammed a hand against the glass so hard that it splintered, cracking loudly as I screamed, no words, just let out a long, agonized, injured-animal-like scream. And I didn't give a shit that they heard it, didn't give a shit that they were there, that they could see, that they were watching, that for just a moment I let my walls down. No, I didn't let them down. They shattered.

She was so small. That fragile, beautiful, defiant, annoying, infuriating, witty, special, idiotic little kid made the choice that saved us all. I punched the glass again and it splintered even more, a small chunk of it fallling out and down where she'd gone, with him, killing him... I grit my teeth so hard it hurt, but I didn't care.

Because that wasn't the most painful thing in the world. It was imagining her making that decision. It was imagining everything that had happened, because all of a sudden, as the pain and guilt and realization ripped through me and bled out, a pain so indescribable that I should have, wanted to, die from it, all of a sudden the memories came rushing back.

A girl fighting. Pure white. A beautiful smile. Light grey eyes. Tears. Laughter. Holding her. Kissing her. Her kissing me. Fragile. Something that couples wished they had, something no one could ever have with anyone else after us. Something no one could define, something that made her part of my life in a little over a week. Part of me. It was torn out. A sleeping face. Little sounds.

A promise. A look of defiance until the very end. A promise that stopped me cold. I hadn't realized that I'd been screaming more than once until I stoppped, throat aching and sore, fist bleeding lightly against the almost-broken tube, didn't realize I had tears on my face until I heard one fall on the floor, didn't realize I was shaking until I had to fource myself to stop.

She was gone. Just like that, as if none of it had ever happened. As if the past week was just me and the others. No one would ever know of her existence outside of us, coming and going without leaving a trace, like a true runner... Just a deep, permenant scar inside of me, where something should have been. Torn out and gone, the only remaining proof that she'd ever existed in the first place. That, and the families she'd saved. The family right here that she'd saved.

And her glove, balled up tight in my fist. A scar. Unknowing families. A glove. That's all she left us with. All she left me with. And that was the price of her goal. That's what she'd been running towards all this time. That was the price...that, and her life. And the life we could have had...but it was her 'there'. A promise...

"C'mon, let's go."I heard the pill whisper softly, noticing for the first time that Maria was crying, stifling it behind me. I heard them walking away, along with Chief's heavy footsteps. The door closed. Just bodies, me, and Jones. And a connection I never wanted to have. A loss we both shared.

"Ya know, Thrax,"He said, a tone of pain in his voice I'd never expected, "I never knew anyone who liked you..." I was about to tell him to shove it somewhere, to remind myself that this was Jones and he didn't give a shit... "..But that girl more than loved you. It was something more...something that don't die."

I paused, he paused, and then he left. They didn't ask me to follow. Didn't expect me to. They were letting me leave, keeping their part of the bargain. Leave... I stood up, stiff, everything inside me almost rattling and broken. That would take a damn long time to heal, and it would never heal right, never the same, at least.

Then again, was anything going to be the same after her? No, not really. I got to an open window and slashed it open, jumping and crouching on the windowsill and looking out into the city, just waking up, no idea of what just happened. I looked down at the glove, and imagined what she said, right before we entered here.

She changed my life and kept it the same all at the same time. She was something I could never get again...but there was one thing that I could still get. A promise to her, one I'd keep. Make us even. Never make that pain in my heart stop, no. It throbbed inside there, ripping through me with every heartbeat I wished I wasn't taking without her. If she could see me now, she'd call me a sap and probably punch me.

I looked down at the glove. Her words. I wouldn't leave the city yet, nah. I had shit I had to get together first...but instead of staying longer, like I'd planned to, I was haulin' ass outta here the second I could. Because a little, pure white girl told me I had to get 'there'.

So I had to start running.

_-Epilogue-_

The club was empty on a sunday, the only somewhat-respectable thing about it. The dancefloor littered with trash and a few sketchy items, the bar locked tight, the air dusty and smelling like the bad decisions of all last week. I shoved my hands into my pockets as I got near the back door, only one person in this dump on a sunday morning.

I kicked on the door three times, and an irritated voice answered with,

"Learn how to knock, damnit! You think they just give me new doors?!" The door flew open, and I shoved past Gina as I entered the room, wanting to get what I ordered and get out before Sneeze and Sniff started bawling again. Who knows, I might end up taking them with me, so long as they stopped breaking into hysterical tears everytime they looked at something white.

"Who pissed in your cereal?"Gina asked, walking past me in a tight tank top and black short, her hair up in a tight ponytail and brushing her back. I didn't respond with anything witty, just asking impatiently,

"You got it?" She rolled her eyes at me like normal and opened her desk, pulling out something round and black. She held it up between her thumb and middle finger, saying proudly,

"It'll make a smoke screen so big the whole damn city's gonna be coughing for the next week. I'd throw it while standing in the uvula." She tossed it to me, and I caught it easily, slipping it into my pocket. I'd already paid her, and was about to turn to leave, but she stopped me.

"So where's Little White, huh? Gotta repay her for last time."She said mischeviously, clearly trying to get to me. And she did, but not in the way she wanted. A twist of pain worked it's way up to my chest, and I was glad I'd put my shades on, making it easier to mask how much I really didn't want to explain this.

I'd already told Sneeze and Sniff, and that was worse than I ever could have imagined. It was like I'd killed their damn puppy...but I knew I couldn't talk. I hadn't exactly...I shook my head inwardly and said, trying to use as little emotion as possible,

"She killed Pox." There was a silence in the room, my jaw stiff, feeling that she understood what I was saying. What I was leaving out. And I could feel her sorrow, even though she'd met her once. That was the kind of effect Iris had on people. You meet her once, you never forget her.

There was a shuffling and a desk drawr slamming shut. I looked back, seeing Gina holding out a small piece of paper. One I remembered foggily, seeming like an eternity ago. I paused, looking at it as she held it out farther. And, for the first time, I saw Gina's jaw clenched and a face that was angrily holding back tears. And I felt like she wasn't crying because of the news, but because of something she knew that I didn't.

"Take this. She wanted me to give it to you..."She took a breath, voice wavering frustratedly, "...In case anything happened to her. She told me to give it to you."

I paused, looking at it. So that's what it was... I reached up and took the slip of paper, looking at the folded note, and then back to Gina, who was looking at me with watery eyes, a scowl on her face as tears threatened her. A brick wall, broken by whatever was in this note. Maybe she didn't even understand it, but had a feeling...

For a moment it looked like she was about to say something, do something, but decided against it. She shook her head and motioned me out, saying,

"Get out, go find another bomb technician that'll put up with your shit." That was Gina's way of saying goodbye, and that she'd miss me. All I gave her was a nod that she may or may not have seen, her facing away as I turned and opened the door, exiting quickly. I thought I heard her fall into her chair, but didn't pay much attention.

I had a smoke bomb in my pocket, the likes of which this city hadn't seen, and yet what weighted heaviest was the note in my hand. Because all along part of us had known that something like that could have happened, she was just the only one who prepared for it.

I got outside and stopped, the car in front of me. I'd given Sneeze and Sniff an hour to get to the uvula or I was leaving without them. All that was left was to drive there now... I slowly looked at the note, at her words, part of her. The glove was in my inside jacket pocket. I'd keep that. Whatever this note said, I had the feeling that I'd never forget what it said.

I was already keeping the glove, if I kept the note Iris would have laughed and probably punched me...again. Slowly, I opened the note, the small paper folded only once, the words small and neat and written in black ink. I read them once, and then just kind of looked at them. Stood there for a second. And then smirked.

I dropped the note outside the club and slid into the car, turning it on and screeching down the street. I could have sworn I saw Jones walking down the street with the pill, but everything was moving too fast for me to see, anyway. And really, I didn't need to see. All this was here. I needed to get to there. I'd forgotten that for a moment. And then I got a forever that was cut short. I kissed, screamed, cried, laughed, fought, and in the end I remembered why I was even moving in the first place.

I was running, towards something, towards those records, towards those medical books. There, maybe I'd stop. Maybe I'd find a new there. All I knew was that I had to keep fucking running until I got there. My smile grew as I thought of those words on the paper, the words I'd never forget, no matter how many theres I found:

'Thanks for the breather.'


End file.
